Angel The Awakening
by BlueNameless
Summary: Follow up from Not Fade Away, while the remaining Fang Gang and Wolfram and Hart prepare to have their showdown, something else shows up and crashes the party, creating unlikely allies. Please review. 13 and 14 up!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

Author's note: Now Not Fade Away was a good final episode, the only thing I hated it was that Wesley died, he was a character I hated alot, until he came to Angel and went through changes did I actually come to adore his character. Anyho, this is my first fanfic, I decided to use some things mentioned before in Angel for this story which follows up after the episode, there's alot of jumping back and forth between scenes and time lines in some of them so watch out. This is coming out of my head as I write it so please go easy on me!   
  
The story involves some christian mythics(Angels and the devil to be precise) which I researched a bit before doing this story, so I integrated some of them into this story. There might be some tiny pieces of ideas I took from other fanfics such as names etc. Also ideas taken from previous movies/shows/stories you name it. Thanks to Aeryn Sun for her support and help. The story is divided into 3 Acts, it may come at a slow pace at times since I got all these emergencies coming at me day and night these days so this is something I do in my spare time. EDIT: I re-edited Chapter 1 a bit.

**ACT I - Angel – The Awakening - Chapter 1**  
  
In a dim nightclub a green horned demon is singing,  
  
_It took all the strength I had  
  
Just not to fall apart  
  
I'm trying hard to mend the pieces  
  
Of my broken heart  
  
And I spent oh so many nights  
  
Just feeling sorry for myself  
  
I used to cry  
  
But now I hold my head up high  
  
And you see me  
  
With somebody new  
  
I'm not that stupid little person still in love with you  
  
And so you thought you'd just drop by  
  
And you expect me to be free  
  
But now I'm saving all my loving  
  
For someone who's loving me  
_  
The demon finishes the song and the audience applauds as he stands up and takes a sip out of his seabreeze.  
  
"Wonderful!" An audience member calls out.  
  
"Yeah! Let's hear it for Lorne!" Another yells out aloud.  
  
Lorne sits down back on the stand with the microphone still in his hand and the seabreeze on the other and chuckles.  
  
"Thank you! And now my next piece..." before he could finish his comment a young girl's voice cries out, a familiar voice, "Story time!" Some agreements are heard throughout the club. Lorne looked at his watch. It was 10:00pm, and if he was going to keep his promise about his story he better start now, for it was an extremely long one. Again he took another sip, "Alright munchkins, it is getting late and I don't wanna keep you kids pass your curfews he he."  
  
Lorne realigns himself on his stand and takes a deep breath, "Now let's see...where do we start? I suppose we should start straight from the beginning huh?" Lorne scans the crowd and sees some anxious faces and continues, "Well actually, this story starts from a very long time ago, hehehe, um, how about a couple dozen millions of years ago? Ah how about the beginning of time then, before mankind, there walked on the Earth an ancient race."

In the crowd someone calls out, "Dinosaurs?" Chuckles are heard throughout, but Lorne corrects him. "No, way before that mister! They were powerful beings. They were...how do you say it? Ah yes! The seeds of the future, both good and evil, though of course, evil reigned in that time and many of those goodies left but kept a watchful eye over it. Later on another ancient race known as the Old Ones, the first demons, started to appear and rule the Earth. They were pretty much like us, fighting and killing each other all the time...well maybe I exaggerated that part a bit, but they were bent on killing each other all the time."  
  
Flashback to an unknown time, ancient Earth is not exactly the same as present Earth. The sky is bright red, crackled with dark mystical energies sweeping through, and large winged creatures flying through the sky cawing, and seeking their prey in the endless sight of barren land. There were fields of green plants, trees, flowers but they were kept in protected gardens from the harsh elements with a river flowing between and scattered across the plane.

One particularly large garden was kept in the back of a large temple with two massive pillars at it's entrance where a very large army of knight-like demons stood, armed with long spears and large broad shields with thick armor and flanked by mounted demons on great reptilian-like creatures with the hissing of a dragon similar to the ones in the present era.

A large being walks toward the temple, flanked by his elite soldiers; his armor too is knight-like but with crystal silver-like armor with blue and rose streaks across it and shines with an invisible aura that entices you around him, a sense of hope and mercy. His many scarlet energy-like wings waver in the passing wind like a great flag and his face remains hidden within the darkness of his crystal helmet. Many speculated that he was a demon of pure energy and that the armor was what kept him in this realm, but no one dared to question that, for he was the Archangel Gabriel, one of the most powerful warrior-gods of the Demon Realm, the last one.

His three brothers, Azrael, Raphael, and Michael, had left this realm long ago to serve a group of greater beings known as The Powers that Be but Gabriel remained. Gabriel too was once a monarch but his kingdom was destroyed by an alliance of rivalry warrior-gods who took advantage of his brothers' leave. They were bent on his destruction, to annihilate all Archangels, and each passing day he was anxious to make them pay for what they did to his temple and his beloved human "pets."  
  
Unlike many of his kind, Gabriel was interested when these ape-like creatures began appearing on the horizon of this dimension, dim-witted and slow, Gabriel found that they quickly adapted to the harsh environment despite their weak physical capabilities and thrived. He came to love them and taught them the tongue of his kind, and they too learned that quickly. They proved to be strong warriors, despite being below the Wolf, Ram, and Hart if taught correctly but the most important thing of all was that these short-lived "humans" were neither demons nor powerful gods. They were simply mortals, neither purely evil nor good, a balance between the two. With each passing time, Gabriel began to learn a bit of their nature and their emotions such as love and hatred, so much different from the kind of love that he was accustomed to, the worship kind, and this is why he remained. He wanted to protect these fragile mortals and learn more about "love."  
  
Gabriel protected a village of these mortals within his kingdom for centuries until one fateful day when his rivals appeared to overthrow him. The humans were the first to fall to their swords, their wails and cries would forever haunt Gabriel. He did the best he could to muster his army to defend them, but the enemy was too vast and too swift, for it was not one but six Old Ones that combined their armies in an attempt to destroy him. Lucifer, the fallen Archangel, led this alliance against him, and with him brought the five Elemental Gods; Metal, Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind.

In the ensuring chaos, Gabriel took what was left of his Elite Guard and headed into the desert with the enemy pursuing them for 45 days straight until he entered another kingdom of another great warrior-god, Illyria. Illyria was battling a rival that day and was under the impression she was winning for there was another large army ready to attack her exposed flank. Gabriel realized, although this army was much larger than his, that if he moved in quickly enough and stall the army it would eventually be pitted against the Elemental armies closing in on him, and he and his men would escape before Illyria could make a move on him. It was rare for Old Ones to be friends, they were always enemies, and he was not in the mood for a long fight.

Gabriel quickly moved his army, and intercepted the incoming army, filled with white-skinned smelly creatures wielding huge axes otherwise known as Ogres. This army was shocked when 10,000 Dragoon knights, Gabriel's elite mounted troops, suddenly came charging down on them, and in a single instant entire battalions of Ogres disappeared within the rampaging foot of the reptiles, followed by 500,000 spears. Their battle cry was awesome, and their might was strong despite being outnumbered, but their objective was not to win but to stall. Soon enough, the Elemental army, blindly pursing their prey like wild wolves clashed into the Horde army, which now turned their attention to and Gabriel used the time to escape.  
  
With no enemy reinforcements, Illyria was able to eliminate her opponent swiftly with her massive strength and torn out his eyes so he could see his own mutilated face before slicing his head off and roared in triumph. The enemy army was overwhelmed with panic and fled quickly, but the Illyrians, Illyria's own army, left no mercy for their enemies and overran them, leaving no survivors. Now Illyria had noticed the flanking army's battle, and realized what had occurred, for she was no fool. _'No one should be allowed to enter and leave my kingdom without my acknowledgment!_' she thought, and using her time-altering powers, she stood in front of a shocked Gabriel and his army.  
  
"Who are you and what makes you think you could come into my kingdom without asking?" Illyria questioned the knight; her voice was loud, and filled with awesome power as it echoed across the barren lands. She felt an aura coming off of him, something she has not felt in a long time till it dawned upon her; _this is a noble creature, an Archangel, I thought they left this dimension ages ago.  
_  
Gabriel took a deep breath and signaled his army to retire their weapons, the cries of battle between the Ogres and Elemental warriors could still be heard in the distance, but both armies were beginning to retire, and answered her.  
  
"I am the Archangel Gabriel, my kingdom was destroyed by my rivals, and we were driven for forty-five days until we came into your kingdom. I saw your rival's army preparing to ambush you, so I took my men and stalled them until my pursuers caught up. This forced them to fight each other, and I planned on retreating quickly Your Highness." Gabriel placed his spear down as Illyria pondered his answer, _his army is small, and can be eliminated quickly, though having a creature this powerful on my side would prove useful in the long run. I am a god to a god, this one is no different,_ and then she spoke.  
  
"While I eliminate those who cross into my kingdom you have brought me great victory over my enemies and for that I will spare your lives." Gabriel sighed in relief, but tensed when he realized that the Illyrians were surrounding his men, their weapons ready to strike. "But," Illyria continued, "You shall swear allegiance to me and fight under my name! You shall be my warrior!"  
  
Gabriel and his men looked at Illyria shocked, _swear allegiance to her and become one of her soldiers? She has no care for humans...but then again she has no care for anything as long she has power. Illyria does not wish to persecute anyone at all as long as they remain passive. Gabriel looked around again, if I refuse, my men will die a meaningless death, I have lead them this far, and I will not let them die this way. My brothers will hate me for serving an Old One who does not believe in our cause, to restore balance to this world, but then I have lost all purpose by remaining on this Earth, perhaps the humans are safer this way if I serve under Illyria_, and slowly rose and took his sword, the Illyrians inched closer, but then he kneeled down in front of Illyria.  
  
"I Gabriel..." Gabriel uttered and cursed silently for what he was about to do, "swear allegiance to you and myself and my men will fight and serve under you till death!" The knights, who fully trusted Gabriel and would follow him to the end, announced, "Till Death! Long live Illyria! God- King of this dimension!" and stomped their spears repeatedly to the ground shouting, "Hail!" The knights' spears' stomp and shout could be heard miles. Illyria smiled. '_Excellent' _she thought,_ 'These elite troops will serve me well,'_ She turned around and headed back to her Temple, followed by Gabriel and the others.  
  
Gabriel sighed as the memory passed him as he continued walking towards Illyria's temple, _it's been many years since that day, but I've done a lot more good than I would've been able to do, now that I serve Illyria. But in the end, was it the right choice?_

Gabriel had been able to secure a new village for the remaining survivors of the humans on the borders of the kingdom, and kept a close watch on them. Illyria was disgusted by this, noting that they were muck at her feet, but he was able to convince her to keep them by having them become her acolytes, and that kept Illyria from eliminating them. It's been easier though, Illyria has been growing stronger everyday that almost everyone else now fears her, even he began respecting her.

Though he was now disturbed, rumors had it that Lucifer and his minions had been gathering allies and forces secretly, but he could not prove them to Illyria. If it came down to war, both Illyria and himself would be outnumbered ten to one. While Illyria and himself were powerful warriors, the Elemental Gods' strength were equal to his, and Lucifer is Michael's, his older and stronger brother, opposite. His troops were also elite, the best of the best, though they could not handle a force ten times their size and the thought of losing more of his beloved humans struck something inside him. He had learned a lot from them though; their tricks and sneakiness on surviving, and Gabriel integrated this into their defenses for he knew it would prove useful in the long run.

Gabriel entered the temple, and headed to the altar when, "Your highness!" Gabriel and his lieutenants turned, it was one of his scouts, and he was out of breath though but was able to muster his strength to talk.  
  
"I have spotted a massive army hiding on the outskirts of our borders. Another is camped a medium-sized distance from the human camps," the scout took in another breath, "and I spotted the five flags, they've been deployed around the kingdom." Gabriel and his lieutenants stood there shocked, the five flags represented the Elemental Gods! It was a sign of deployment and war, and was mystical in a sense that it gave the Elemental warriors some sort of super charge that made them deadly in combat.  
  
"Are the armies mobilizing?" Gabriel asked.  
  
"Looks like their about ready to, if they do now, they'll be upon us before nightfall" the scout replied.  
  
Gabriel turned, his back to his scout and pondered, I guess now's the time to see how well these human tricks really do work. "Alpha, mobilize our forces and inform Illyria what is happening, she must know. Go!" Gabriel shook Alpha's soldier, and he left quickly.

Then he turned to Omega, "Inform the humans what has happened and tell them to set-up their traps." Omega turned and quickly left, but Gabriel grabbed him and drew close to him, "The moment they reach half-way, I want half of them to die!" Omega nodded and left, the rest of his army began to mobilize into formation. I will stand my ground and fight to the death. For Illyria, I shall protect her even after death, I will not fail her!  
  
_Lorne sat back and continued his story. "So anyways, a great big battle was to take place but for enough of the introduction. Let's cut to the cheese now, back to L.A., present day."_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

Note: I edited a bit in Chapter 2. Hope you like it!

**Los Angeles, California**  
  
In a hospital, a patient is being rolled quickly into the surgery room, doctors and nurses swarming over him trying to keep him alive.  
  
"Heart rate's falling!" a nurse yelled out.  
  
"Were losing him! Body temperature falling!" another said.  
  
"Hurry up, and get him on life support!" the doctor replied as he looked at the patient, he was a man in his thirties, 5'7, broad shoulders, well built. _'Poor guy,'_ the doctor thought as he examined the wound. The wound was large and strange. It was like some large creature with huge claws tried slashing him to death in his gut. The surgeons began working on him as soon as they placed the man in the room.  
  
"Terrance, don't give up! Stay alive!" the doctor said as he continued working, trying to fix the wound. _No good, he's lost too much blood and there must be internal bleeding but I won't give up.  
_  
The doctor yelled at the nurse, "Hook him up to life support hurry!" The nurse brought the machine in, placed the mask over Terrance's mouth, and hooked a small cylinder to the oxygen tank. Moments later, the machine started going crazy, Terrance's body started to shake violently, his eyes wide, almost like a silent scream, but there was no noise coming from him.  
  
"Doctor!" The doctor turned back to Terrance, _what's going on!?_  
  
"Body temperature rising! 50 degrees wait...now 190 degrees and rising...oh lord...his organs are cooking!" One of the surgeons screamed as he removed his hands from the wound followed by a sizzling liquid, he looked at the doctor shocked as smoke was rising from the wound, almost like a barbecue. _Impossible!_ The doctor thought to himself and pondered what to do next, as Terrance's heart rate continued decreasing and then....dead. The doctor looked down in shame at the cooked body, what happened? He turned towards one of the nurses, "Time of death, May 24th 2004, 10:51pm"  
  
"DOCTOR!" Another one of the nurses screamed, and pointed to the corpse. He turned around, and saw what, again, was impossible. The body was shaking again, and the wound seemed to have disappeared.  
  
"Restrain him! Nurse, his pulse!?" The doctor yelled out, but the nurse shook her head. The line was still dead, and then another scream, the dead body's arm slashed out and smacked a surgeon into the wall, and then another, knocking them out and soon everyone ran out.  
  
"Call security!" one of the nurses shouted, and then left quickly. The nurse that hooked up the cylinder slowly walked towards Terrance as his body stopped shaking violently, and soon his short hair changed color to a black reddish color and his eyes from brown to scarlet. She stood in front of the body, as he rose up, confusion in his eyes.  
  
"Where...where am I?"  
  
The nurse replied, "You are back on Earth My Liege, well, millions of years later from where you were from." He turned and looked at her.  
  
"Earth? But I was killed, how?"  
  
"The Deeper Well, its guardian was injured awhile ago, and its guards were killed even longer before, so it was easy to sneak in and rescue you," she pointed to a cylinder, "I took your essence, and placed you in this shell so you could come back. It's really great to meet you Gabriel."  
  
Gabriel looked at his hands. _I'm human, I've been turned into the creatures that I have adored but for what purpose? I have no purpose anymore._ He turned and looked at the woman and sensed something familiar emitting from her.  
  
"You are one of Illyria's acolytes."  
  
The nurse smiled, "Yes, your highness."  
  
"Why have you brought me back?"  
  
"Because Illyria has returned to this plane," she replied, but then heard noise coming in from the hall, "but we must leave immediately. I'll fill you in but we must get you out of here."  
  
Gabriel nodded, and stood upright. _'This will be interesting,'_ he thought. The nurse took him, and together they ran out of the room with guards closing in.  
  
"HEY! FREEZE!"  
  
"Don't listen to them keep running," the nurse told Gabriel as loud popping sounds were heard from the guards, and she fell. Gabriel picked her up, and ran quickly, punching through a wall and entering into the rain and leaped to safety. Gabriel laid the Illyrian to rest as blood flowed through her stomach. _'She's not much time to live,'_ he thought.  
  
In her weakened state, the nurse began to explain. "Illyria, after her death she planned an escape to return to this world...I helped...others to bring it here...but it turns out that something...went wrong," she gasped, "her temple was destroyed, and powers were stripped....I'm not sure how, but she was unable to take back this world....she decided to live on this world as a human, and eventually lost more of her powers...thanks to Wolfram and Hart....and that's when it happened."

She fell but Gabriel held her tight, and placed her back on the wall, and she continued, "I kept a watchful eye on her, she was becoming more human and fell in love with her shell's lover and joined his cause....to fight the Wolf, Ram, and Hart...and now, she and her comrades stand on the brink of destruction from their wrath....you must help her...please..." she began to faint but then her eyes opened, "but also...when I was at the well, I felt a dangerous essence around...with the guardian dead...some Old Ones have begun...to awaken...they must be dealt with quickly..."

The nurse removed a small white stone, his moonstone, from her pocket and handed to Gabriel, "Take it...this is your power source, you'll need it...I fear an old enemy is returning to eliminate Illyria so please...help her," and with her last breath she died. Gabriel closed her eyes and held the stone tighter, _Wolf, Ram, and Hart, they were weak in the old days, looks like they gained power while the Old Ones were gone._

Gabriel closed his eyes and focused on the moonstone in his hand, its energies immediately were released and covered him. Steel-like linen wrapped around his upper torso and formed a belt on his waist. It continued to his arms and legs; armor pieces materialized on his shoulders, elbows, hips, lower arms, knees, and boots formed on his feet.

_'Excellent,'_ Gabriel thought as he examined his armour, _'now I'm ready but I must hurry.'_ Gabriel closed his eyes again, and listened to the raindrops falling. They sang to him as they struck the Earth, much like the green sing to Illyria. _"A great battle is being taken place,"_ they spoke, _"the Wolf, Ram, and Hart has sent a massive army to annihilate Illyria, the legendary vampires Spike and Angel, and a badly wounded human, you must hurry My Lord."_ Gabriel slowly rose, placed the acolyte's body in a nearby shed, and ran off into battle.  
  
_Lorne takes another sip of his Seabreeze and then sets it on the counter near the stand. "So you see, new players are coming into the fold, Angel well knew what he was doing...I guess he didn't realize the damage in the long run. Anyways, now we come to England."_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

**England****, the Cotswolds  
**  
Five dark figures enter a tree into the Deeper Well; they reach the bridge that overlooks the Old Ones coffins and begin chanting. From some tombs deep within the well, essences begin to emerge and fly into the sky to their destinations.  
  
"A fool that champion exterminated the guardian," one of the figures spoke.  
  
"Yes a fool."  
  
"Indeed."  
  
"But it makes things easier for us."  
  
"In the end it all works out for us, our gods shall rise again." And then the figures disappeared through a portal.  
  
_Lorne laughed, "I suppose that looking or predicting the future when we make choices, and see what they could do in the long run is better than what they could do in the short run." He takes another sip, "Oh and please don't attempt to play with magic at home, it's a bad habit. Trust me, I had experience."  
_  
**Los Angeles****, ****California****  
**  
A screeching dragon comes swooping into an alley, "Bit more specific?" A bloody Spike asked Angel, Angel stepped forward,  
  
"Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon," Angel looks at the oncoming army, "let's get to work."  
  
Angel, Spike, Illyria, and Gunn charge into the fray, swords and axes swinging into the mass of demons.  
  
**Unknown dimension**  
  
Three dark figures watch through a holographic image at the centre of their table, one of them, a dark figure with the head of a wolf speaks up. "Shame, a great loss we have suffered have we not brothers?"  
  
The Ram replies, "Yes, a terrible loss but we can always replace our ranks quickly."  
  
The Hart slammed his fist on the table, "We shall make that vampire pay. We placed so many resources and time into him, and he signs away his shanshu to hurt us. He even has the nerve to eliminate our emissary."  
  
"However," the Wolf points out, "there is still another viable player in the game." The others agree in unison and continue watching. Lilah walks in and clears her throat to grab their attention.  
  
"Excuse me sir?" the demons looked at Lilah.  
  
"This better be important Lilah," the Wolf replied,  
  
"Yes it is actually. We've got a problem; a big one. It's the Deeper Well, the guardian and all those Old Ones?"  
  
The Hart's eyes were in shock, "Wait, the guardian was killed was it?" Lilah nods and once again the Hart smash his fist on the table, "The Old Ones! They're arising! We must do something about it. If there is to be an apocalypse, we should be the ones doing it, not them. Everything would be ruined!"  
  
"That is not our matter brother," the Ram replies, "only the forces of good can handle such a situation."  
  
"I have a suggestion sir," Lilah replies, and the others look at her. "There's only one solution to the problem."  
  
The Wolf cracks his knuckles, "Something tells me we are not going to like this solution."  
  
Lilah smiles.  
  
_Lorne continues, "Back in __L.A.__, the battle isn't going well for our fellow champions; Gunn is the first to fall though. Poor guy, he never gave up. What came afterwards though is something I'll never forget."  
_  
**Los Angeles****, ****California**  
  
In the midst, Spike slices through a mess of demons, and looks as Gunn gets ganged up by a hundred demons and they pour over him.  
  
"CHARLIE BOY!" Spike yelled as he tried fighting his way towards him.  
  
Illyria took notice, and tried as well. She knocked one of the demons out, grabbed his leg and began swinging him into the army, dozens of demons fly through the air screaming as Illyria continues making her way to Gunn. _'I lost Wesley, my beloved; I will make them pay!'_ Illyria thought as tears came down her face, as she continued pummeling the enemy. The memories of her last moments with him have been burned in her mind. Wesley lying in her arms wounded with blood spilling, asking her to lie to him. She wondered if the words that came out of her mouth were actually hers.  
  
_Hello there _

_Oh Wesley. My Wesley. _

_Fred. I've missed you. _

_It's gonna be OK. It won't hurt much longer, and then you'll be where I am. We'll be together. _

_I...I love you.  
_  
_I love you. My love. Oh, my love._  
  
Angel, still powered up from his fight with Hamilton, was preoccupied with a rather large sword wielding centaur slashing at him. The centaur roared, and brought the sword down hard on Angel's sword, which barely was able to withstand it. Angel countered, and swung the sword into its chest. The centaur screamed, but it wasn't down yet, and smacked him into a wall.  
  
Meanwhile back at Vail's house, a dark essence begins creeping towards a dead body on the floor, and a portal opens above it and enters the five dark figures again.  
  
"Tis strange is it not?"  
  
"Yes, this inferior mortal was loved dearly by our enemy...sad though, he had much potential."  
  
"Do you think he is the right one the master wants?"  
  
"Yes, we have seen what has occurred in the past, memories and illusions are a powerful weapon to have."  
  
"Let's begin...the others are beginning to awaken."  
  
Back at the alley, Spike gets mangled with a group of demons. Illyria manages to reach Gunn as she continues pummeling the demons with the same one she is still holding, and then throws him into the mass, driving them back for the time being.  
  
"Charles!" Illyria spoke as she kneeled down at his body; _no, no, no, it...can't be_. She was too late for Gunn had given his last breath. Illyria looked down on her hands, filled with Gunn's blood, and something was beginning to spark inside her. She began shaking as a strange voice began screaming inside her, it was not her own; _No, first Wesley, now Charles, this can't be happening!_ Illyria screamed, her voice shattered the ear drums of the demons as they held their bleeding ears including Spike and Angel. Standing firm, Illyria stared into the demon mass; _die...die...die...DIE!_ Gripping her fists she ran into the masses, and smashed every skull she could find, demons screeched and fell before her feet.

Spike looked in amazement while Angel continued his fight, but then he noticed something...no, smelled something wrong. He looked around, and saw something swirling around Gunn and entering into him. _What the bloody hell?_ Gunn's body began to shake violently for a few moments then stopped, to Spike's amazement he stood up, looked around, stared at Spike for a second and began laughing...it wasn't Charlie Boy's laughter he knew. Although he never heard him laugh before, but he knew it wasn't him. Illyria turned her back and looked at Gunn, those are not his eyes, _something is different...wait...it can't be!_

Gunn continued to laugh as he jumped into the middle of the demon army, he began to chant something and threw his hands out, and the demon army flew into the walls, dozens of buildings collapsed from the impact. People began screaming and running. Angel, Illyria, and Spike took cover as Gunn, if it was Gunn, began to slaughter the Demon army with his bare hands. A giant troll swung his battle axe at Gunn, but he stopped it with his hand and jabbed it back into the troll, the troll screamed in pain and fell.  
  
Illyria looked closer at Gunn and realized, _it's him...I recognize that aura...Scourge, the Mutilator, one of my murderers!_ The ripping out of the insides of the demons pretty much confirmed it. Illyria regains her footing as she stares at her friend...no, her murderer but before she could move, the dragon sweeps in, and grabs her in it's claws and takes her into the air.  
  
"BLUE! Bloody hell!" Spike cried out as both he and Angel tried to figure a way to help her. IIllyria tried to free herself but the dragon's grip is strong, too strong, and with her depleted powers she is not strong enough. As Illyria begins to blank out, she sees something running towards her, a figure leaps into the air and snatches her away from the dragon, and falls down to the ground. Illyria looks at his face, and again senses another familiar aura as they descend to the ground. _'I know this aura...Gabriel, my warrior,'_ Illyria thought as they landed on the ground. Gabriel places her down on the ground, as once again something sparks in Illyria, something not of her own words.  
  
"Handsome man saves me from the monsters..."  
  
Gabriel stares at her with his red eyes, unsure of what to say but nods, and turns around to face the dragon that is coming in for another attack. He removes a hidden boomerang from his shoulder armor, and throws it at the dragon. It dodges the boomerang, and laughs at Gabriel for the near-miss in its crackled voice, but then notices his smile on his face and turns its head to see it slice back at him, removing his head in a quick slink sound.  
  
Angel speaks out, gasping, "Bah, I wanted to slay that dragon!"  
  
"You have more important things to worry about Angel," Gabriel replies. He looks back at the piles of dead bodies as Scourge continuing slaughtering them, "like starting with your killing of the guardian of the Deeper Well."  
  
Angel stared at him for a moment, "Oh yeah right, without the guardian, the Old Ones can arise, but I had no choice. It was the only way to get into the Circle. I figured eventually a new guardian would be selected afterwards."  
  
Gabriel spoke up, "Yes, but something has been waiting for you to kill the guardian to take advantage of that."  
  
Spike replied, "Yeah great job daddy-oh, just what we needed, more problems to deal with," and turns towards Gabriel, "So who's the bloke here?"  
  
Illyria steps forward, "He is my warrior, my champion, Gabriel the Archangel, Prince of Justice and Spirit of Truth."  
  
"Really Blue? You had a champy back in the day? Was he your pet too?" Spike replied smirking, but Illyria just stared at him. Before another word could be said, Scourge jumped into the fray and stood across from the group. Gabriel stood in front of him, "You will not harm Illyria," he said.  
  
"Of course not," Scourge replied in a deep voice, "yet, I have work to do." He looked at Illyria, "He is not the only one we have taken from you!" Laughing Scourge jumped into the darkness. Illyria pondered his words for a second, and then realized what he meant. Immediately, she leaped onto the buildings, and began running back to Vail's house with Gabriel following.  
  
Spike and Angel were left behind, "Now what?" Spike says as he sees the remaining Demon army, now about a hundred, charging towards them and Angel simply replies, "Back to work," and grabs his sword but before he could strike he heard another voice.  
  
"Hold it!" The demon army stopped and retired their weapons. Angel and Spike stood there speechless, and confused until a figure stepped in front of them, "I just need a minute with our former champion boys," the figure said, it was Lilah.  
  
"What's the game here, Lilah?" Angel asked, still holding his weapon firm in his hand.  
  
Lilah smiled, "Hmmm, not something nice to say to someone who's trying to get you out of a sticky situation, huh Angel?"  
  
"You? Help us? You work for Wolfram and Hart." Angel said, "My you are slow aren't you? I've come to you because we got a problem which the Senior Partners can't deal with themselves because well...they're evil and on another plane, and this situation require good to do it. You should've already seen a part of the problem." Angel thought for a second, "The Old Ones."  
  
"Bingo, you'd be surprised at how many loser dimwitted acolytes have waited eons for the guardian of the Well to drop his guard and...since you killed him, well, now the Old Ones are popping out like daisies." Lilah leaned in closer to Angel, "They don't die like we do. There's a reason why we have a jailer, to make sure they stay dead."  
  
"So? What's the deal with the Partners?"  
  
"Well the deal is this: you take it upon yourself to stop the Old Ones that have rose, hopefully by that time a new guardian would be found, and we will withdraw our army. Afterwards we go back to the way things were, back then...except the L.A. branch will no longer be under your control. Oh and we've already placed a strong guard near the Well to make sure no more idiot worshippers cross in for the time being, but it's temporary."  
  
Spike replied, "And if we refuse?"  
  
Lilah turned towards him, "Well then we kill you all, the Old Ones then destroy the world, which also ruins our plans for the human race. So you see, the first deal benefits us both."  
  
The three stood in silence.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

_"So you see the dilemma here, our fearless leader has been given a second chance to survive the wrath of Wolfram and Hart, but in order to do so he has to help them," Lorne said into the microphone, scanning the crowd, "reaching back to that old saying of what are the long term consequences? If he helps them, everything goes back to the way things were, if he doesn't, everyone dies...you see a great leader ensures that his troops survive no matter what, and I guess that's what was going through our fearless leader's mind. After all, he did start the problem; he should fix it the best he can. Meanwhile, back to our two demon soldiers."_  
  
**Los Angeles**  
  
Illyria and Gabriel enter Vail's house. Gabriel follows close behind Illyria. "Illyria? Is there something wrong?" He asked.  
  
Illyria kept walking towards a room, "I hope not." _he better not have touched him!_ The two continued walking, and bursted through the door into the chamber where Wesley...well...where Wesley should've been lying. _We're too late.  
_  
Gabriel looked around and sensed something, "We must leave, evil's presence is strong here," but before he could finish five figures jumped out around them. Gabriel removed a pop-up spear from his armor, and stood close to Illyria. One of the figures, the blue cloaked one spoke.  
  
"Ah our foe has arrived, tis a long time, have we not set eyes upon for centuries?" Gabriel looked closer.  
  
"The five Elemental Gods: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Metal, what are your intentions on this plane?" Gabriel demanded.  
  
Metal stood forward, sword ready to strike, "Our god wishes to return to this plane to wreak havoc. Of course when he learned of Illyria's return," Metal inched closer, "he figured your closest new mortal friends would serve him well."  
  
Illyria posed to strike until another figure enter the chamber, he was tall, 6'0, dark brownish hair with dark eyes, _no, please not him too!  
_  
The figure spoke in an English accent, "Yes well, this should do, it pleases and disgusts me to see you again Illyria," and turned to Gabriel. "Gabriel, long time, no see," he looks closer at his shell and chuckles, "looks like this shell knows your shell...ah Terrance Lao isn't it?"  
  
Gabriel stood and went over his shell's memories, _yes, the two were friends_. "Wesley Wyndham Pryce," Gabriel spoke slowly, "they roomed together at the Watcher's Academy."  
  
"Ah yes, the good times in England," but before he speak another word Illyria stood in front of him ready to strike.  
  
"You will leave this shell Lucifer!"  
  
Lucifer looked down at her, speaking in his normal voice now, "Or you will do what Illyria? Destroy thy shell that you have come to love?"  
  
_Lorne, "Well personally, I think it's horrible to have someone wear your former lover's body like a suit. Wesley had to adapt to it when our blue- haired queen came in, but now due to the situation, she's in his shoes now. It hurts, a lot in the inside."  
  
_Illyria stood, speechless, not knowing what to do.  
  
Lucifer replied, "I thought so," and nodded to his soldiers. They struck at her, but Gabriel moved in quickly, and intercepted their attacks. Spear and sword clashed. Lucifer walked towards the window and looked back, "Be patient, we shall soon be seeing each other again," and he jumped out the window into the city and the Elementals followed suit.  
  
Gabriel ran to Illyria's side, "Are you hurt my liege?"  
  
Illyria fell to her knees, tears formed at her eyes, and Gabriel kneeled down to her and placed his hand on her shoulder,  
  
"We should return. We must regroup with the vampires to deal with this situation," Gabriel said but noticed that Illyria was not paying attention, _she really has become human, she is overwhelmed with emotions, ironic that she used to despise them in the old day_. So, he picked her up, and took off in search for the vampires. He soon found them back in the alley, and found that the demon army was gone. As they entered inside the hotel, which was still intact, so he followed, they did not say any words until they were inside, and Gabriel placed Illyria, still crying, on the couch, he turned towards them.  
  
"What has happened?"  
  
The vampire, Angel, replied, "They let us live but on one condition," and stopped.  
  
Spike finished the sentence, "To stop the Oldies those are out at the moment until a new guardian is established by The Powers that Be Gabby."  
  
"I see," Gabriel replied, turning to Angel, "and what is your plan?"  
  
"Move out, we've got work to do."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 2**

_Lorne stretched his back a bit before continuing the story, "Well there you have it, pretty much all of the players are on the field, now the question is what the strategy is? One side, we have our fearless leader and his ragtag team, and on the other a group of Old Ones whose taken over some of his friends."_

**Los Angeles******

Angel and Spike returned to Spike's apartment, while Gabriel and Illyria left for Wesley's apartment to see if there was anything useful to use. Spike picked up a chair as Angel took his bloody coat off.

"Long day," Spike said. His face was scarred, and his body riddled with slashes but they would heal soon enough; a plus being a vampire.

"So what now? What's the plan? Assuming you got one." Spike asked.

"Now?" Angel replied, "I need a shower, excuse me," and headed for the bathroom, "Tell me when Illyria…and her warrior comes back."

Spike nodded, and continued cleaning up his apartment. A lot of debris was left from the previous fight between Illyria and Hamilton.

Illyria and Gabriel entered Wesley's apartment through his open window, and turned on the lights and looked around, the place was clean and tidy. '_Just as it was when Winifred came to Wesley for help_,' Illyria thought as she headed for the stacks of books kept on the shelf. Gabriel looked around, and found a weapon cache and began sorting through them.

"This Wesley," Gabriel said, "was he your Qwa'ha Xahn in this world? Did he bring you here?"

Illyria looked back at him and replied, "Yes and no. This shell belonged to his lover. I…killed her…he was filled with grief," she stopped, and picked up a picture of Wesley. "When I found I could not take back this world, I came to him and he agreed to help me find my way."

_If I abide, you will help me?_

_Yes…_

_Because I look like her?_

_…Yes…_

Gabriel found a collapsible sword and placed it on the table. "You seemed to have cared much for this mortal."

Illyria pondered for a moment; _cared, no; it was something else, something different_.

"Perhaps." She turns to Gabriel, "Back at the wizard's chambers, Wesle…Lucifer said that your shells knew each other, is that true?"

Gabriel looks back at her, and goes through Terrance's memories. 'Y_es, it is true. The two knew each other at the Watcher's Academy. They were both good friends.'_

**Southern Hampshire, Watcher's Academy, 1986**

"Go! Run! Hurry!" A young, blond haired man yelled, as he ran through the halls of a building. Screams could be heard in the distance. The man turned around, and saw blood spewed out at the walls as he heard a ferocious roar and a dying scream in the distance. He continued running until he went through a door and locked it, gasping for air with his back on the door.

_Good lord! That bloody council said only one vampire, not a dozen!_ The man thought, as he heard a crash, and spun around to see another vampire running at him through the broken window. _Move! MOVE! _ But the man was shocked, and stood his ground, stake in his hand but he could not move it then…another crash and he closed his eyes. A scream and the sounds of dust forced him to open his eyes, and he saw that the vampire was gone; turned to dust. He looked around and saw another young lad, black hair and stood about five feet seven,

"Oh bloody hell Terrance! Where were you?"

Terrance looked back at him, stake still in his hand. "Hands were full Jake, many vampires are roaming the area. We must leave. Follow me."

Terrance ran through the broken window with Jake behind him. The door behind them blew open and the vampire grabbed Jake by his ankles. Terrance turned around in time to see the vampire snap Jake's neck and as he drank his blood. '_Bloody demon!_' He threw a stake at Jake's heart, _sorry mate._ The stake stabbed through Jake's punctured chest, and into the demon's heart. It turned to dust within moments.

Terrance held his breath for a moment and focused, a trick he learned back home from his master. He could hear faint movements above as the vampires were finishing the rest of his friends. '_I don't have much time_.' Grabbing his stakes, he leaped through the window into the courtyard. It was a full moon that night, and the light shined on him as Terrance looked up before going back inside. As he entered the lobby, a body was thrown at him. Terrance dodged, and looked at the direction where it came from. Four vampires entered the lobby.

"Ah, fresh meat, don't you just love those watchers?" One of the vampires said, wiping the blood from his mouth.

Terrance turned and saw six more vampires come in from the left; he slowly tightened the grip on his stakes.

"And now," the same vampire continued, "the last fresh meat…how should we split it?"

"Shotgun!" One of the vampires yelled and jumped at Terrance. He saw the vampire and quickly unleashed his collapsible sword from his wrist and sliced the vampire's head off. It turned into dust as it fell past him onto the floor on the other side.

"As the Americans would say," Terrance said, holding the sword upright, "bring it on!"

_'Strike hard and fast, let loose your thoughts, act on instinct, and not let them make a second move._'

Another vampire leaped at him, but Terrance sliced off his head as well. Two more entered the fray, and he spin-kicked one of them into a cabinet and staked the second one in the heart.

One of the vampires rushed at him, and threw a punch. Terrance dodged and used his second stake on this one but before he could turn to dust Terrance punched stake on the vampire hard into another, staking the other in the process.

A big vampire tried to get a hold on him but he slid under the demon, grabbed his stakes, and staked the vampire in the back. He plunged the second stake into another, running it into him. The next vampire kicked Terrance, but missed and tripped onto the floor. So Terrance took the opportunity to stake the vampire on the ground.

Another vampire grabbed Terrance from behind, and threw him into a table nearby. However, he was able to throw his stake into the vampire; killing him in the process.

Terrance turned to the last vampire that he had kicked into the cabinet, who rushed at him but he dodged to the right. He slashed the vampire's chest with his sword; picked him up and jabbed him in the neck onto the wall. Terrance picked up the stake as the vampire screamed, blood pouring from his neck like a spring leak, "Mercy…please! I…beg of you!"

Terrance stared at the vampire. "Mercy? Where was mercy when you slaughtered my friends?" Resolutely, he staked the vampire. '_It is done, someone better have a good explanation for this_.' He removed his sword from the wall, and headed towards the now unlocked entrance as he heard a click.

---------------------

"Now Terrance, this situation is to be kept confidential, understood?"

Terrance looked up. He was sitting in a small office, the events of last night still fresh in his memory, "Yes…"

Rodger Wyndam-Pryce, his friend's father, spoke out. "What happened last night was a tragedy, we did not wish for something like that to happen."

"We were told we were going to be locked in a place with just one vampire. Not a dozen vampires! It wasn't a test, it was a slaughter!" Terrance pointed out. Pryce struck back, "Young man, in the fields you will be faced with more than one vampire, and unexpected things will occur on the field. You must learn to adapt to whatever situation. Understood?" Terrance gulped, and replied with a weak, "Yes." Pryce sighed, and leaned back on his chair. "The council and I have been discussing you, and we have agreed that it is not right to accept you into the council."

Terrance's eyes widened, and tried to contain himself from lashing out at him. "Why?"

"Because your skills are needed elsewhere," Rodger replied. He picked up some papers, and threw them to Terrance's side. "You are my boy's exact opposite. While he is weak, his expertise lies in knowledge," and points to Terrance. "You on the other hand have not done well in your exams, needless to say. Yet your combat skills exceed even our own instructors here at the academy. It even rivals with that of a slayer. We want to set you up as a personal soldier for ourselves. For missions behind the scenes whenever the slayer is unavailable."

Terrance lay back on his chair. _'In other words you want me to be the council's assassin, go figure. At least I'll be getting something out of this academy. A shame though, all my life I've always wanted to be a watcher to train a slayer.' _

"I understand," he replied.

"Good, dismissed, and again, only you and I know of this conversation. All your assignments will come from me."

Terrance nodded, and left.

"So, you're not going to be joining the Watcher's Council after all this?"

Terrance, sitting behind his desk, looked up at Wesley who just entered their study room.

"Looks like it," Terrance sighed, "I can't tell you much, but your father and the council wishes to enlist my skills in other areas. I get the feeling I'm going to be a very busy man for the next couple of years to come."

Wesley looked out the window at the sunlight and sat on the desk next to Terrance. "My father…he can be difficult at times. I wish you would've been able to stay though; it would have been great for us to work side-by-side as watchers. Training slayers and such," Wesley said, pointing to Terrance. "With your skills and my brain, we could forge a legendary slayer together."

Terrance sighed again, "Yeah too bad. Well, I'm sure you'll do fine without me," and looked closely at head boy. "You are sure you can handle it right? Since the last time we went up against a demon you screamed like a frightened little girl."

Wesley straightened himself. "I've…I've made some improvements. I'll be ready to face whatever comes at me in the near future. I wasn't head boy back then for nothing."

"I see." Terrance smirked as he got up, "Well, only a few days before graduation," and looked at Wesley. "Let's make a promise."

"A promise?"

"Yeah, fight the good fight, keep fighting, and never give up. No matter where you are or what you do, you do what you can to contribute to the good fight. Even if your friends turn against you."

Wesley pondered that for a moment, and then held out his hand. "Promise. Keep fighting, no matter what happens or where we are."

Terrance gripped his hand. "It's a promise then, let evil shake at our feet!"

The two laughed.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

**Los Angeles******

Gabriel turned his gaze away from Illyria back at the sword. "Yes, they go back. The shell…no…Terrance was on his way to meet up with Wesley, but he was ambushed and wounded by a large group of demons. Your acolyte took pity on him, and decided to give him a second chance." Gabriel noted as he looked at his hands.

Illyria continued looking through the shelves; she removed a number of books and a codex from it and placed them in a bag. She again looked at Wesley's picture, and stared at it for a few moments as Gabriel continued packing up the weapons. Small tears ran down her face, as the last moments of Wesley kept running through her mind again and again. _If only I came earlier this could have been avoided._

_But you still came, and you were concerned._

Illyria shook her head at this new voice. _What?_ Her eyes closed for a second, and she opened them. _No, this can't be right!_ She looked around, and found herself in some bright empty place. _Wesley? Is that you?_ She turned and saw a figure next to her.

_Wesley! But your...how is this possible?_

_Anything's possible, my love. _ Wesley leaned in and kissed her. The kiss was soft and warm, something she had not felt before when she kissed him in his last moments.

_I knew I would find you again Fred, I've waited for you._

Illyria paused, _Fred…but…_She looked at herself. She was not blue, and her armor was not in place. She was Fred, wearing her clothes and her shape, but she did not remember changing herself.

_I've missed you Fred, but now were together again like you said._

Illyria shook her head again. _What is going on here?_

_Yes, like I said._

_Illyria__? _Again she turned around at the voice. _Illyria__?_

"Illyria?" Gabriel asked as Illyria opened her eyes slowly.

"What happened?"

"You fell and you transformed into your shell's former shape," Gabriel replied, examining her. "You were also whispering something."

Illyria looked at herself. Yes, she had indeed changed back into Winifred's shape, but that did not make any sense. Only **she** had the will to change it. _Was it a dream? It felt so real._ She immediately changed back to her blue state.

"We should leave. Do we have everything?"

"Yes," Gabriel replied, holding the bags containing the codex, books and weapons.

"Let us depart."

**Spike's Apartment**

Angel stepped out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel, as Spike continued playing video games on his X-Box.

"That's right screaming jackals! Feel my wrath! There's no place to hide!" Spike grumbled as sounds of gun fire, screams, and roars came from the TV.

Angel stared at Spike. "The world is on the path towards destruction, and you sit here playing video games?" Angel looked through the piles of games and noticed a Gamecube stacked behind the TV and picked it up, looking at the disc inside, on the picture were creatures but the one that caught his attention was a yellow rat. He paused for a moment, and stared at Spike.

"Just warming up, mate. At least in this game I'm protecting the Earth from a bunch of aliens that scream like ewoks," Spike replied. He looked up at Angel, and noticed what he meant, but ignores it and goes back to the game. "Bloody useless marines."

The door opened, and Angel looked up as both Illyria and Gabriel walked into the room, placing a large bag on the table. Angel took Spike's controller away, and turned off the TV despite his protest.

"Okay, so what do we got so far?" Angel asked.

Illyria spoke in a monotone voice, "We have retrieved some books and a codex regarding the Demon Age, Wesley had accumulated previously, as well as several conventional weapons stored in his home."

Gabriel opened the bag, and spread the weapons out on the table. He placed the codex on the other side away from the weapons.

"Wesley seemed to enjoy using such advanced weaponry," Gabriel said, examining a Desert Eagle. "This shell retains no memory of Wesley being of such a character."

Spike looked curiously, "You mean this bloke knew Percy?"

"If you mean Wesley, then yes. They roomed together at the academy."  
  
"Then you should have a lot of knowledge on demons and books like Wesley did," Angel said, stepping forward.

Gabriel shook his head. "Unfortunately, the shell, Terrance was not strong in that field. He was more inclined to weaponry and combat."

"Well that sucks! No Bookman means we got no brains on the team." Spike said, turning his gaze to the floor.

"However, both Illyria and are myself aware of the situation we face at this moment," Gabriel replied. Both Angel and Spike turned towards him and Illyria. "The one you met today was one of the Old Ones who murdered Illyria."

"And?" Angel asked, crossing his arms.

Gabriel cocked his head and continued. "His name is Scourge, the Mutilator. There are Five others as well. The Five Elemental Gods known as Wind, Metal, Fire, Earth, and Water. As well as Lucifer, the Fallen Archangel. All of them participated in Illyria's murder."

"Wow," Spike whistled, turning to Illyria, "you should feel loved Blue. Looks like everyone's come back for you."

Illyria stared at him with her cold eyes.

Angel interrupted, "So what do we need to do to beat these guys? We've faced off with Illyria at full power before, and we couldn't do much against her. These guys shouldn't be any different right?"  
  
"Unfortunately, I too was slain by their hands, at least by Lucifer himself." Gabriel sighed. "The Five Elemental Gods are my equals, and Scourge…I am unsure. They are not easy opponents."

"Any special powers we should know about?" Spike asked.

Gabriel pointed out, "The Elemental Gods can summon the power of their elements to them. Many Old Ones do not have special powers such as Illyria's time-altering and portal capabilities. She is really one of the few that could do such a thing. Scourge and Lucifer, though, can summon portals at their command, and have practiced dark magic in the past. In this dimension however, our powers are limited either way due to these shells we have taken over. Otherwise, we would self-destruct."

"So the only way to beat these guys…" Angel said.

"Is to be sneaky," Illyria interrupted, cocking her head. "Is that not how you humans wrenched control of this world from us?"

"I suppose so," Angel stated, thinking for a minute. "But, we still need to come up with some sort of plan, and a way to beat them. Are they invulnerable?"

Gabriel nodded.

"Well," Spike quietly said, everyone turning their attention to him. "Awhile back in Sunnydale, Buffy defeated a god with a god's weapon…uh…a troll mallet. There was also a scythe she found, created to destroy the last pure demon."

"Only weapons forged from the Demon Age can kill an Old One or a god, either that or blessed weapons," Gabriel replied. "Although some of the weapons can increase the power of its user, a weapon still does not make a person's strength; it's how you use them."

"Maybe," Angel said, "but where would we get these weapons? Buffy is out of the question. We can't even reach her and…"

"No one trusts us anymore." Spike replied.

A shink sound was heard, and everyone jumped back, when a long silver spear extended across the table from Gabriel's hand. The spear, about two and a half meters in length, had a very large sharp blade with some sort of markings on it at the end.

"This is my own spear. It can skew any creature easily, and deal a mortal blow to its target, demon or not a demon."  
  
"Wow," Spike said, examining the spear. However, when he slightly touched the blade, he retracted and found himself with a cut on his fingers. "Bugger, that's sharp!"

The spear retracts, and hides in Gabriel's armor.

"Well, we're going to need more of those kinds of weapons, if we hope to stop these demons. We'll just have to play dirty," Angel said, tapping his fingers on the table. "Speaking of which, how do we find them? It's been strangely quiet for awhile, no rain of fire or anything."

"Perhaps the enemy is rallying their forces and organizing themselves before striking," Illyria pointed out.

"Which means we don't have a lot of time," Angel replied and grabbed one of the books, "Let's get cracking."

"Research," Spike said. "Wish Percy was here to do that."

Illyria looked away sadly, and Spike quickly sat on the couch and began reading the books. Angel walked up to Gabriel, holding a book in his hand, but Gabriel declined.

"No, I do not require a book vampire. This shell is filled with memories of explorations and discoveries of ancient weapons in the past," Gabriel cocked his head, and slightly pushed the book away. "I should be able to find something useful there."

Angel nodded, and turned away. "By the way, it's Angel."

"Yes, I know vampire."

"I meant you should call me Angel, instead of vampire," Angel replied, pointing at Spike. "And that's Spike, the other vampire."

Gabriel acknowledged his words, and went to stand near Illyria. Who was sitting on the other side of the couch; like a father watching over his daughter. He closed his eyes and shuffled through his shell's memories. Angel grinned, sat on a chair next to the table, and began reading.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

**Unknown place**

A figure walks around in a large abandoned factory in an industrial area, observing the city center from afar. He takes a look at the night sky, and admires the view. _'This world is completely different from what it used to be. It is too…peaceful. But that will change once I take care of personal business.'_

Lucifer continued looking at the city with much interest, _interesting though that such weaklings have become the rulers of a world once owned by demons over time. They were not too difficult to handle in the past, I wonder how they'll fair now that I am here? _He remembered the good old days, especially the parts where he and his fellow Archangel brothers fought for the forces of good.

"My Lord?"

Lucifer turned around, and faced Fire, "What is it?"

"Everyone has arrived."  
  
"Excellent." Lucifer replied, and headed towards the docks with Fire behind him.

They arrive to find the other four Elemental Gods there, including Scourge. Lucifer smiled, and sat down in a chair near the wall.

"So," Lucifer said, looking at his soldiers. "What news have you brought?"

Water steps forward, "The world is apparently inhabited entirely by humans, yet there are half-breeds that live in the shadows of this world. Contact between the two appears to be rare."

"There is more," Lucifer looked over at Earth as she spoke, "the Wolf, Ram, and Hart also have a strong hold on this world. While they are not on this plane, they hold a great deal of power. They have placed a strong guard in the Well so it is impossible to awaken anymore of our kind."  
  
"I see, but that is not a problem. Our numbers our sufficient for now," Lucifer replied, turning to Scourge. "What about Illyria and Gabriel?"

Scourge cleared his throat before speaking, "Currently they are together, and are allied with two half-breed warriors, vampires to be specific." He looked at Lucifer, "The half-breeds can be dealt with readily and easily."

Thunder cracked the sky as Lucifer looked up, and then turned back to his soldiers. "For the time being, continue gathering information and keep an eye on Illyria."

"Should we not be taking immediate action, and eliminate them?" Metal asked.

Lucifer got up, and struck Metal so hard that he flew back several meters, clenching his chest. "Do not question my orders! We shall strike when the time is right." Turning to Scourge, "Slow and painful is much better than quick and painless is it not?"  
  
Scourge smiled, "Yes, it is actually. Seeing us wearing her former comrades like clothing shall deal great devastation to Illyria and her comrades."

"Make small strikes and appearances in the meantime," Lucifer said coldly. "And when the time is right we will annihilate them completely. After, they have suffered a great deal, of course!" Clouds had started to form as it was about to rain and Lucifer smiled. "In the meantime, I have something to take care of at the moment."

Footsteps caught everyones' attention to the door, as another figure entered the factory.

"About time you showed up," Wind said.

The figure smiled, and spoke in a Texan accent, "Well I had some problems along the way, and it takes time getting used to this new body. So, where's the champ?"


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

**Spike's Apartment**

It was getting late, but the group was able to find some information. Gabriel had noted that Terrance, in the past, had found information on ancient holy weapons and amulets which could still be hidden around the Earth. Angel and Spike found some corroborating evidence of them too. The problem was getting the exact location of these items, so the group decided to split up. Since they were searching for holy weapons, Spike suggested checking out some missions and churches in the area. Gabriel noted a treasure hunter whom Terrance had met in the past that might be able to assist them. Angel and Spike left together for the missions, and Gabriel and Illyria, together, headed out to find the hunter. All agreed to return before dawn.

Spike mounted his motorcycle, and called out to Angel, "Let's go!"

"What's with you and motorcycles?"   
  
"Are you getting on, or not?"

Angel angrily took his seat behind Spike. As they took off, Gabriel and Illyria leapt across buildings in the city.

From the memories, there were a few places which the hunter could've gone to: bars, clubs, diners, both catering to demons and humans. _'This human seemed to have led a very dark life,' _Gabriel thought, _'There are very few memories of happiness, for they are all filled with sorrow and guilt.' _Within several minutes, the two demons landed in an alley behind a nightclub. Gabriel peeked at the entrance.

"This would be one of the first places to look for this hunter. The club is a gathering place for mercenaries," Gabriel noted. He turned to Illyria, "We should change our appearance to avoid unnecessary confrontation."

Illyria nodded, and within moments her shape changed to that of Winifred. She wore a white shirt with blue jeans. The ice blue eye color was gone, and her hair turned brown. The change for Gabriel took seconds as well. His eyes returned to its original brown color, with his red-dark hair morphing back to black. A black turtle neck appeared with black jeans. If anything, Gabriel was practically camouflaged in the dark except for his face.

Gabriel turned to Illyria, and speaking with an English accent, said, "Alright let's go. Stay close with me Ill…no…what was your shell's name again?"

Illyria opened her eyes again, as she saw Wesley turning to her instead of Gabriel.

"Illyria?"

Closing and opening her eyes again, Illyria found Gabriel instead of Wesley. Confused and dazed, she slowly replied, "Winifred Burkle."

Gabriel examined her for a bit, and then shrugged. "Ok, for the time being, we'll address each other by our human names, Winifred."

"Fred," Illyria interrupted.

"Fred," Gabriel said, "you wish to be addressed Fred instead?" Seeing her nod, Gabriel continued, "Very well then, address me by Terrance then."

_"If you ask me," Lorne chuckled, "we may get a case of identity crisis." _

Terrance and Fred walked towards the nightclub's entrance. Some people took a look at the unusual couple, considering the fact that Fred, being 5'8, was taller than Terrance, who was 5'7. However, many shrugged it off, and went about their personal businesses. The bouncer at the entrance examined the two as they walked in.

"Careful," the bouncer said, "it can get rough in there."

Terrance smiled, and continued walking into the club. It was heavily crowded with people dancing on the floor. Fred watched them with interest; how the males and females held each other intimately. _I wish that was me and Wesley_, Fred shook her head. _That was not my voice, what is happening to me?_ Fred turned her attention back to Terrance as they made their way to the bar.

The bartender, a man in his thirties, looked up at the couple.

"Can I help you?"

Terrance paused for a second, "Uh I am looking for a man that goes by the name Hunter Gibson." The bartender pondered for a moment. "He has short brown hair, blue eyes, medium build, about five feet eleven."

The bartender continued thinking, and then snapped his fingers, "Ah sorry, a lot of guys come in and go."  
  
Terrance sighed, "Do you know anyone we could ask?"

"Maybe," the bartender said nodding his head, "there is someone who might know." Searching through the crowds he pointed to a girl, a blonde haired teenager, at the other end of the club, "She might know."

Terrance nodded, and both he and Fred started walking through the crowded dance floor. A large, overly muscled man stopped the two on the way, his gaze fixed on Fred.

"Hey there, wanna have a dance babe? Ditch the nerd, and hitch up with a real man."

Fred stopped, and simply replied, "Sorry, I'm kinda busy right now." She continued walking with Terrance, but the man again stood in their way. Frustrated, but wishing not to start a fight Terrance asked, "Excuse me sir, but could you please move out of the way?"

The man laughed, "What's a shrimp like you going to do with me?" Still laughing, the man threw a punch at Terrance, a slow one though…too slow. Terrance dodged the attack, and grabbed the man's hand.

"I was hoping it wouldn't resort to this," Terrance said as he started squeezing the man's fist. The hand bones cracked loudly, and the man screamed so he let him go. The man fell, quickly got up and ran out, cradling his broken hand with his other.

"Was that necessary, Terrance?" Fred asked.

"Necessary?" Terrance said, turning to Fred, grabbing her hand and continuing walking across. "I suppose so. We're now on our way aren't we?"

The two finally reached the blonde haired girl, who was flanked by several large men, no doubt her bodyguards. As Terrance and Fred stepped in front of the table the girl immediately looked up.

"Hi there! How can I help you?" The girl asked cheerfully, sipping from her soda through a straw. Two of the bodyguards took a step behind them, poised to strike at a moments notice.

Looking around him, Terrance spoke, "Yes, um, we're both looking for a man named…"

"Oh yes!" the girl interrupted, startling Terrance for a bit, "I forgot to introduce myself! Silly me! My name is Sarah."

Both Fred and Terrance looked at each other, and turned back to Sarah.

"I'm Terrance, and this is my friend Fred."

Sarah scanned the two of them. She had a strange look on her face.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Sarah asked, looking at Fred.

Terrance interrupted, "Uh yes. Um if you would please excuse me, but I'm looking for a man named Hunter. The man at the bar said you might know where he is."

Sarah stopped, putting her drink on the table and pointed at the chairs in front of Fred and Terrance. "Well sit down."

The two took seats at the table, and sat down.

"Hunter's dead," Sarah said, placing her hands on the table, still holding a cheerful face. "He was on another of his treasure hunts a few days ago, but was killed by those guardians that were defending it." She inched a bit closer to Fred and Terrance, "But what would you two be looking for him for?"

Terrance straightened himself, "I need some information regarding important ancient relics."

Sarah gave him an intrigued look, "Well I could help you, but then what would I get out of this? Do you have anything to offer to me?"

Fred and Terrance looked at each other, they didn't bring anything at all, nor could they make something on such a short notice.

"Well, no," Terrance replied, "nothing."

"What about your spear?" Sarah asked.

Terrance froze, _'My spear? How does she know?' _

"I carry nothing," Terrance lied, holding both arms in the air, revealing there was nothing to hide within his shirt. "What makes you think I carry something?"

Sarah laughed, "Such silly fools, don't you think so Jacob?" She turned to one of the bodyguards who simply nodded. Smiling, she explained, "I can see past your false images. I'm not fooled easily. You two apparently are very old demons, pure demons to be exact."

Fred quickly tried to cover up. "Nah, we're just a couple of normal people trying to survive in this world."

"Your imitation is almost near perfect, and would have fooled me if not for the auras you emit in your human forms." Sarah stated. "So tell me, what are two pure demons doing here? The old trying to take over the world?" Sarah took another sip of her drink and rolled her eyes, "People these days."

Realizing that they could no longer cover it, Terrance decided to just acknowledge it. "No, we are on a mission to help this world."

"How can I trust you?" Sarah asked.

"I'm…" Terrance said, thinking, "I'm not sure."

Sarah then picked up her drink again. "Well you already proved one point to me, but I'd like to test out one more thing."  
  
Before Terrance could react two large hands grabbed his shoulder, and hurled him across the club onto the dance floor. People screamed, and got out of the way as Terrance looked back at his attackers. Vampires, eight of them, surrounded him and behind them was the same man whose hand he had broken.

"That's him!" The man yelled, "He broke my hand! Kill him! Make him hurt bad!"

The vampires smiled as they drew closer to Terrance, but then one of them stopped.

"Hey!" the vampire said, sniffing with his nose. "Something's not right here! This guy doesn't have a scent!"

"You sure?" another said, as he inched closer and sniffed. "You're right. He doesn't have a scent. It's like he's not even there."

"But we can see him!"

"What are you waiting for!? Kill him! I'm paying you good money!" The man screamed.

"Well let's find out then," the lead vampire said, and leapt at Terrance.

He moved quickly, and kicked the vampire hard in the stomach, so that he went flying into the wall. The second vampire rushed at him but was no match for Terrance's speed as he swung behind him and snapped his neck. Another was decapitated with just a single roundhouse kick. Yet another vampire grabbed a table, and successfully smashed it over Terrance's head, but was shocked when the man was still standing.

"This guy's not even human!"

"That is correct," Terrance said smiling. He picked up a piece of the wood from the table, and staked the vampire to dust. Then threw it at another, staking it in the process.

Now the remaining vampires panicked and started running. Terrance turned his gaze towards the man with the broken hand. Desperate, the man took out a knife, and held it to Fred's throat.

"One move and I'll slit her throat!"

"Unhand me you filth." Fred said in her voice once more Illyria's as she knocked the knife out of his hand, and punched him across the club, and out into the street through the door. People looked in amazement, and started clapping. Terrance wiped the dust off of his shirt, and walked towards the girls.

"Are you unhurt, Fred?" Terrance asked.

"No, I'm fine thank you. Hated that guy," Fred replied, giving an evil look.

"Good job!" Sarah said, getting both Terrance's and Fred's attention, "You proved that I can trust you fully."

"I assume you meant the fighting," Terrance replied. "But what was the first point we proved to you?"  
  
Sarah smiled, "As I looked deep into you two I not only sensed your demon essences, but sensed your souls. Well at least what's left of them, at any rate. I examined them…they're good souls."

Both Terrance and Fred stopped, staring at Sarah.

_"What?" Lorne said, giving the audience a mean look. "What are you all looking at me like that for? I'm telling you the truth boys and girls, it's how the story tells it."_


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.  
  
**Chapter 9**  
  
"Wh...what do you mean you examined our souls?" Fred asked, 'this is not possible, Fred's soul was destroyed in my resurrection, she cannot return.'  
  
"Oh please," Sarah replied, "this is the first time this kind of thing was done, that's why scientists do replicates, to get a good idea of the results, you should know that Winifred, your a whacky scientist yourself aren't you?"  
  
The two demons still stared at Sarah until Fred spoke up, changing her voice to normal.  
  
"But I am Illyria! My essence destroyed her soul and took over her body! She cannot return even if I wanted her to!"  
  
"No silly, you're not Illyria," Sarah pointed to Fred, "everyone simply assumed that the soul was destroyed, well it sorta was, but because it was said the soul would be lost so everyone said, 'I guess that means soul goes kaboom,' you may have Illyria's memories and powers but she's long dead girl, your still not truly Illyria herself. You just hold a piece of what's left of her, much like what you hold of what's now left of Fred."  
  
Sarah walked closer towards Fred and continued, "When it first happened, your new demon personality held a strong control over you but once your boyfriend sucked half of your powers out your body felt empty didn't it? Well ever heard of the term looking for something to fill that emptiness? That's your lost Fred fragments come in, over time they've been rebuilding themselves within you, recreating Fred inside you, trying to bring back what you used to be before this. You feel it don't you? You feel that you've been made more human ever since that incident?"  
  
Fred looked down at the floor.  
  
...strange, though I've been made more human...  
  
"Even when you are not in human form have you ever found yourself speaking like Fred whenever you lose control?" Sarah continued.  
  
You caged me in this fractured time frame, in moments that repeat themselves over and over without deviation...But I don't say these words!  
  
Terrance stepped forward, "Who are you exactly? And how do you know all of this?"  
  
Sarah smiled back, "Oh I'm just a little girl who watches the world from the back."  
  
"I think you are much more than that."  
  
"Oh really?" Sarah asked, giggling.  
  
Terrance took a step back and examined her, trying to pick up anything from her and decided, "You're an Angel."  
  
Sarah slumped, "Pooey, I don't like you anymore, you ruined the fun for me."  
  
Terrance leaned in closer to Sarah until his face was point-blank to hers, "Look I have very little time to play with games, Fred and I have very important business to attend to so please."  
  
Sarah giggled again, came forward and kissed Terrance. Terrance lost himself for a second in the kiss but immediately retracted away from her. Fred tensed from the action.  
  
"What in bloody hell was that for?"  
  
"You said please and your face was right in front of mine so I figured that's what you wanted right?" Sarah placed her fingers on her lips. "Even though you are a demon, you're a pretty good kisser." Sitting back on her chair Sarah continued. "Plus the tests and that I'll help you a bit then."  
  
Terrance sat back down on his chair with Fred on his side; the bodyguards enclosed them to ensure no one else could see what was going on.  
  
"My real name is Netzach, though I like Sarah better. Ever since mankind came into existence and the Old Ones began leaving we Angels formed an Order to help guide them under the remaining Archangels who follow orders from above. Though sometimes we just do things in anyway we can to help society."  
  
"What exactly do you do?" Fred asked.  
  
Netzach turned to Fred. "Oh well, I can sense and read souls from people and can do a lot more but I usually keep my powers to a minimum. Most of the time I come to places like these and people who are aware of me ask me to find their soul mates."  
  
Taking a sip of her drink Netzach continued. "It's really fun, sometimes though I like to mess with people but that's only when I'm in a good mood. I'm not really into fighting much, I just like to help people with their personal lives I mean, and there is more to life other than fighting."  
  
Terrance sighed and interrupted. "Well enough with the introductions can we please get down to us asking you for help?"  
  
"Very well then," Netzach replied. "Though I thought I was helping you by telling you about your souls and Fred's condition."  
  
Fred was startled. "My condition?"  
  
"Don't you want to go back to normal?" Netzach asked. "To be human again, to live out a life with your soul mate," eye pointing at Terrance, "and have a wonderful family?"  
  
"I don't..." Fred replied, staring at the table.  
  
"Oh no!" Shouted Netzach. "You do have a soul mate! You feel him don't you?"  
  
This caught Fred by surprise as she wondered exactly what Netzach was implying.  
  
"When you are in human form haven't you been sensing anything? Hallucinating things?" Netzach asked.  
  
Fred pondered for a bit. "Yes...I suppose I have been sensing something."  
  
Netzach clapped her hands. "See? Your soul mate is trying to find his way back to you. Both of your souls are trapped here on this plane, unable to go anywhere else, not destroyed but not forgotten. There is still hope for you. Though, I sense that he is trapped."  
  
"Lucifer." Terrance interrupted.  
  
"Yes well..." Netzach replied, putting her drink down. "I'll have to search through my sources to figure out some way to help you. Seriously, I loved Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but I hated the fact that they both died. In this situation, I want to change that. In the meantime." Waving her hand to Jacob, the man removed a long sword from within his jacket and handed to Netzach, who handed it to Terrance. "Hunter gave me this as a reward for finding his soul mate; he would have wanted you to have this Terry."  
  
Terrance took the sword, removed it from its sheath and examined it. The sword blade was rather light with a wide cross hand guard and at the end of the hilt was a mace-shaped pommel. Terrance placed it back in its sheath immediately and held it under his arm.  
  
"It's an enchanted sword, blessed by the powers of light during the crusades by some monks." Netzach said, pointing at Terrance. "The blade can deliver a fatal blow to a demon of any kind, use it well. When I find what I'm looking for, I'll find you."  
  
Fred and Terrance got up from the table thanking Netzach and walked out of the club into the street. It was a full moon that night and Terrance took a moment to bask in it for the moon was in fact an energy booster for him but Terrance snapped back when he felt rain coming down on him.  
  
"I suppose we should head back." Terrance said, facing Fred as he changed back to his demon form.  
  
"Yes, we should. We have achieved our objectives." Fred replied as she followed suit with Gabriel and the two leaped onto the buildings and headed back.  
  
Note: Netzach according to Christian Mythological sources is an Angel that finds your soul mate.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

On the way though, something caught Gabriel's attention for the rain was calling out to him.

_ My lord, we are here to deliver a message._

Gabriel stopped and listened to the rain as it continued falling.

_ The fallen Archangel Lucifer wishes to see you; he is at the City center on the highest building waiting for you. _

"Gabriel?" Illyria asked.

Gabriel turned back to face Illyria. "I must apologize, there is something I must do, please return to the vampire's home and wait for me, it should not take too long."

Illyria nodded and continued running back home as Gabriel headed in the opposite direction towards the city center. Within a few moments, Gabriel reached the place and leaped on top of the highest building he could find and there stood on the opposite side was Lucifer, in his human shape instead.

"Lucifer," Gabriel said, standing on the building, pointing to Lucifer, "Why have you summoned me?"

Lucifer smiled. "Is that any way to talk to your older brother? Oh and if you wouldn't mind, please revert back to human form, as a sign of a…temporary truce."

Gabriel nodded and morphed back to Terrance's form with the same outfit; he opened his eyes and stared at Lucifer's human form, Wesley.

"You are not my brother anymore. You fell from our cause, rebelled and went to war against us and even murdered me." Gabriel said.

"Oh really?" Lucifer asked. "What about you? You fell from your brothers' grace by not going with them to join The Powers and instead stayed behind, degrading yourself with those wretched humans."

"You are not doing any better at all." Gabriel struck back.

Lucifer sighed. "Well were not going to get anywhere if we continue this sibling bickering." Walking along the edge of the building, balancing like a child on a wall, Lucifer continued, "It is interesting to be in such an inferior form that can't sustain our true glory." Lucifer turned back to Gabriel. "So how were you able to return to this plane? I know Illyria planned it with her acolytes but I don't remember you doing such a thing at all." 

"Illyria's acolytes brought me here to help her." Gabriel replied, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

Lucifer laughed. "Are you serious? You already failed Illyria by not being able to protect her from me and they think bringing you back will do anything at all?"

_ "Well guys," Lorne said in an exciting voice, "Now we head into the real fun and pick up a few moments from where we left off in the first chapter of our story with these Old Ones."_

**Unknown Time**

A horde of demons mounted on large scaled creatures known as chimera riders roamed across the barren lands towards Illyria's temple followed by a massive army of various creatures.

Golems, massive behemoths whose weapons lie in pure strength and brutality, of all elements; water, fire, earth, wind, and water, ran behind the mounted demons. The thundering clap of the Golem's rock-like feet could be heard miles, shaking the ground around them.

On the right side was another massive army containing serpent-like creatures wielding swords and spears, hissing through the march.

Behind them was a large army of knight-like creatures with long swords covered in a dark cloak with screaming cries.

These were the armies that belonged to Scylla the Sage, Scourge the Mutilator, the 5 Elemental gods, and Lucifer the Fallen Archangel. The armies were marching towards Illyria's temple to destroy her but not before attacking the human village as Lucifer had done before.

Scylla, a huge serpent creature like his troops, took point and lead the armies towards the village but noticed it was deserted, _the feeble humans must have fled already, a shame, we might as well keep moving then._ The army overran the village and found nothing and continued marching.   
  
In the hills above the army, a band of humans watch in silent.

The mounted demons were ahead of the line and continued running over a large plain with Illyria's temple in sight. The demons roared and kicked their creatures to run faster and Scylla found it harder to keep ahead of them but as they continued he felt something was wrong and immediately leaped into the air and flew back to the rear.

In seconds, the entire field collapsed, the mounted demons cried out as they fell down the large hole now under them and found themselves impaled by spears with their blades upward. Scourge watched in horror as almost all of his troops were massacred in just one single instant.

"HOW!?" Scourge cried out.

Lucifer took to the air to examine the damage done by the trap and found that the chasm was quite wide and took out at least a huge portion of Scourge's mounted troops; actually almost all of them. '_Interesting, this is not like Gabriel however,'_ Lucifer looked around and saw something small in the distance on the other side of the chasm and he recognized them immediately, '_humans, wretched humans, only they could do such a thing_,' and descended back to the ground next to his lieutenants.

"Humans, they are on the other side of the chasm, eliminate them! Earth!" Lucifer shouted with his sharp tongue to Earth, she came up to him, ready to move out. "Create a bridge and send all battalions over it and exterminate those humans!"

Earth nodded and leaped into the air, her brown cloak wavering in the wind as she raised her hands. An earthquake followed and the humans watched in amazement as the upper ground next to the chasm shifted like ocean waves and fell into it, which covered the chasm within seconds.

The golems and serpents screeched and began to charge towards the now shocked humans who had begun to run back to Illyria's temple. The Old Ones watched in amusement as the pathetic humans ran on their skinny weak legs as their armies closed.

The remaining chimera riders charged forth, fueled with rage against the humans but as they closed in something happened. A wall of long spikes appeared out of the ground, aimed towards them and the riders cried out as they impaled themselves among the wall.

The golems and serpents that were close behind fell to the trap as well and impaled themselves on the wall. Once again another vast portion of the army was wiped out in an instant with the golems lying lifeless on one of the many spikes with the others. A chimera tried to cry out for help, its wailing filled the sky with sorrow as it fell dead.

"SCYLLA!" An aggravated Lucifer cried out and the Serpent demon immediately knew what to do.

Scylla leaped into the air once again and began to chant, his massive arms became bright red as he slashed his arms at the wall. In one moment the entire wall collapsed at the might of his power and again, with the humans shocked on the other side.

Now the demon army was full of complete hatred and humiliation as they charged once again into the human army. Despite being weaker than the average demon the humans were well trained by Gabriel himself and fought hard. The Old Ones watched in amusement as the demons tore the humans apart.

------------

"A shame Gabriel." Lucifer said, strolling along on the roof of the building. "Those apes sacrificed themselves all for nothing. They put up a good fight I will admit that but once past all of their tricks, their nothing. In the end I still won despite losing so many warriors in those first moments."  
-------------

In Illyria's temple, a massive battle is being waged; the Illyrians and Dragoons fought valiantly against Lucifer's army but were heavily outnumbered.

The Five Elemental Gods charged at Gabriel with their swords but he countered each move with his spear. Fire drove his sword forward as Gabriel punched Metal into the wall and barely dodged it. Water came forth and brought her sword on Gabriel and he countered with his spear, which threw it off and struck her with his blunt blade in the face.

Wind and Earth together came at Gabriel but he spun his spear at them which drove them back and kicked both of them into the ground. Staggered, Water pulled through and thrust her sword at Gabriel but he backed away quickly and swung her sword out of line with his spear and checked her with it and she fell down hard.

Amongst the chaos, a Dragoon drove his spear into a Wraith and smashed him into one of the Temple's Pillars. A Water Golem roared and threw a Dragoon into a mess of berserker serpents who tore his body apart within seconds.

An Illyrian fought back against two Wraiths but fell to their sword quickly. The two Wraiths turn their attention to another wounded Illyrian but Omega slashed them both with his sword.

"Where is Illyria?" Omega asked as he pummeled another Wraith with his sword.

The Illyrian replied as he gasped for air, "She…is with her Qwa'ha Xahn, I am…unsure of what she is doing."

Omega looked up and saw an abomination come at him and he jumped back as the monster's huge axe smashed the Illyrian, it was Scourge.

Scourge taunted, "Come here and taste my Axe Blade!" He was a disgusting creature with bulging muscles and body parts of various creatures hanging on him. His stench was almost unbearable.

"No." Omega replied calmly and pointed his sword at Scourge. "You shall taste my blade!"

The two Old Ones leaped at each other with their sword and axe. Scourge gave a war cry as he brought his axe down on Omega but he dodged it and the ground shook at the impact of his axe. Omega propelled his sword into Scourge and drew blood from his stomach but it would take more than a small wound to bring down a behemoth like Scourge.

Scourge countered with the butt of his axe and battered Omega away before he swung his axe for another attack but Omega ducked from it and backed away as the monster continued to swing his axe at him. Many warriors were caught in Scourge's rampage, both friendly and enemy, and Omega advanced forward and tried to run his sword into Scourge but he grabbed the blade, head-checked Omega and threw him into a pillar and it collapsed on him.

Scourge walked up to the debris and kicked it away, enough to see Omega's head; he laughed as he lifted his axe above his head and brought it down on him.

_ Lorne lets out an 'Oh'. "Poor fella, looked like he tasted that monster's blade instead."_

Gabriel grabbed Earth and threw her into the ground as Alpha came into the fray.

"My lord!" Alpha cried out as he knocked Wind out with his sword's pummel.

"Where is Illyria?" Gabriel asked.

"At the altar, she apparently has locked herself in there; I have no idea what she has planned."

Gabriel cursed and looked up as the other Elemental Gods leaped in but Alpha and a dozen Dragoons rushed in and attacked.

"Go!" Alpha said. "Protect Illyria!"

The Archangel leaped into the air towards the altar and in a few moments to examine the damage done. Piles of dead bodies littered the temple but there were more Dragoons and Illyrians lying on the ground. As Gabriel landed a short distance from the altar's door, four golems charged at him but he made short work of them with his spear and continued.

Gabriel burst into the Altar room. "Illyria!"

Illyria did not turn to see him but her priest replied. "Stay back Archangel! This is none of your business!"

"Business!?" Gabriel cried out and pointed to the outside of the room. "My warriors are dying by the thousands to defend your liege! And you dare tell me that this is not my business?"

"Gabriel!" Illyria shouted back but still did not turn to face him. "If you are still my warrior you will seal this room immediately and keep those fools out!"

The Archangel took a closer look and realized that Illyria was wounded, a pool of green blood sat next to her. Before Gabriel could say another word Illyria threw him out the door and sealed it.

"Illyria!" Gabriel pounded on the door but to no avail, _'what does she intend to do?'_

Loud shouts and cries caught Gabriel's attention and the Archangel turned around to see his opponents. Scourge, Scylla, the 5 Elemental Gods, and Lucifer, with Alpha's helmet in his hand started to walk towards him, they had won and wanted to enjoy every last piece of victory. Lucifer lifted his sword, laughed, and leaped forward.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Los Angeles******

Lucifer immediately changed back to his demonic shape and lunged at a shocked Gabriel with a sword hidden under his own armor. Gabriel took out his spear and drove it at him and the two demons passed and landed back to back. Raindrops continued to fall as both Archangels waited to see who would fall first. Both the sword and spear vibrated from each drop. It seemed to be a long wait but then Gabriel fell and Lucifer smiled.

"Finish it." A weakened Gabriel asked, with his hand on his stomach, now covered with blood.

Lucifer placed his sword back into his armor, "Not yet." He replied. "A warrior should die gloriously in a true battle. This time, I want Illyria to hear you scream."

Somewhere out in Los Angeles, a motorcycle comes to a stop near a Catholic Church. Angel and Spike got off, soaked from the rain which now had ended, and walked towards the church.

"Next time, we drive in a car!" Angel said, still trying to shake off the water off of his jacket.

"You poor sod!" Spike replied. "Can't handle a little dinky rain?"

Just then, the church's doors opened and a priest, around his 40's, walked out with a flashlight in his hand.

"Hello?" The man asked with his flashlight pointed at the two vampires. Both Angel and Spike were blinded for a bit. "I heard an engine running so I came out here to see what it was. Would you like to come inside and get dry?"

"Yes thank you." Angel replied softly and nodded to Spike as the two headed into the church.

"May I ask what brings you here?" The priest asked as he turned off his flashlight and walked down a long corridor flanked by countless lit candles.

Unsure of what to say, Angel turned to Spike but even the blonde vampire did not know what to say. The two have been searching high and low in a few churches and abandoned missionaries but so far they haven't been able to find anything helpful in regards to holy weapons.

In one of the books Angel read it stated a powerful weapon handed down generation to generation between priests. The last priest they met knocked himself out silly when they told him they were vampires and tried to calm him down, saying that they had souls but the guy panicked.

In another case, Spike just blurted out the vampire part to the priest so he had to put him down, the nice sorta non-violent way of course.

They would have to use a new approach.  
  
"Uh." Angel said with a cough. "Were here to confess father."  
  
The priest gave them a confused look.

"At this time of the night?"

With a chuckle, Angel continued. "We uh…did some really horrible things and we can't find sleep until it's been properly dealt with. We really had a rough day." _'And that's the truth so help me god. I am so lost right now.'_

"Well." The priest replied and picked up a candle on the wall. "What is your name son?"

"Angel."

"Oh and I'm Spike." Spike said with his hand in the air.

"I am Father Everett." Everett pointed to a door across the hallway. "Please, this way."

As the group walked down the hallway the candles on the way began to flicker rapidly. Father Everett took notice but ignored it and continued to lead the way and opened the doors to the sanctuary. Angel and Spike took a moment to observe the awe of the sanctuary; it was simply massive with beautiful glass paintings from the bible and huge organs at the top back of the area.

"In here." Everett said in a calm voice next to the confessional. "Who would be first?"  
  
Angel stepped forward. "Me."

"Very well then." The priest replied and stepped into one side of the wooden stall with Angel in the other.

_ What the bloody hell does Angel think he's doing? _ Spike thought to himself as he leaned back only to find himself burned a bit from the large cross behind him. _Bugger! _

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned." Angel said with a monotone voice. "It's just that these past years have been so full of deaths and bad decisions in my life. I just don't know how to handle it."

"Many deaths?" Everett asked. "Were many of them your friends? Lovers? Family?"

Angel responded weakly, the memories of his dead comrades still fresh in his mind, along with the pictures of his victims as Angelus. "Yes…all of them were close friends of mine and I loved one dearly. Some of them sacrificed themselves to make sure I stay alive; they were family to me."

"God works in many ways my son. In our lives God gives us free will to do what we please but he also knows exactly what we would choose. However, in each part of our lives he gives us a crossroad from which we must choose to continue our lives. And these crossroads are the major changing points in our lives."

_ 'Crossroads? If I didn't leave home and met Darla I never would be here right now.'_ The vampire thought but then he also remembered something else.

_ But no! The fates had to step in and they made you a vampire! And with a soul too!_

_ 'And that gypsy girl Darla brought in changed me forever. My life would never the same after that.'_

Everett leaned in closer to the screen. "Sometimes though, as much as we hate it, sacrifices are made for a greater cause but they must not be made in vain. Nor should they ever be forgotten. They all have bad consequences but they also have good consequences."

_ Doyle, gave his life so he made sure I kept on fighting. _

_ Cordy, her last breath put me back on track._

_ Fred, gave her life for the final fight. _

_ Wesley, if it wasn't for him __Illyria__ wouldn't be fighting on our side and we'd be badly short of manpower._

_ Gunn, his death gave us more time to hold on._

"No one in this world is perfect Angel." Everett continued. "There will never be times when we make the 'perfect'choice no matter how good or bad it seems."

_ 'Was coming to Wolfram and Hart the right decision?'_

_ So not only did you strike a deal with your worst enemy to give up your son, you let them rape the memories of your friends!_

"Big or small it doesn't matter. Each and every choice we make matters. Yes the world is harsh and cruel, the top dog conquers all, but we fight to make a difference, to make our existence matter. The lord did not placed us on Earth for no reason at all, he always have a reason. We each serve a purpose regardless of our status."

Angel pondered for a bit. "Then what does god do?"

_ Jasmine. The Powers that Be. _

Angel needed some reassurance about these powers.

"God has never interfered directly with man and if he had, had always kept it to a minimum. He has also sent many prophets to guide us to the right path no matter how far we have strayed from it. If he kept coming in by himself all the time to help we wouldn't exactly be human now would we? No free will at all."

"I see…" Angel replied quietly. "So what should I do? So many people rely on me Father to help them in this world. Last night I made a decision that cost me some of the lives of my family just to hit a great evil hard."

"Let your heart guide you my son to the right path." Everett replied. "The harder you look, the better it hides, it will find you."

With a chuckle Angel replied. "My heart is nothing but a dried up nut."

"Is that so?" The priest said. "Then let your soul guide you, it is the one thing nothing can destroy."

"So I was told." Angel said, _'how I wished that was true.'_

"Trust in God my son." Everett whispered through the screen. "And he'll help you in anyway he can. He'll show you the path but you must walk it yourself. Give it time."

"Yes…thank you father." Angel replied and paused for a moment to see if the priest was to say the closing ahems but he heard nothing, instead, he felt something hot. Smoke started to rise from his hands and Angel realized that there was a cross there, he withdrew his hand immediately.

"So tell me." Everett continued. "What is a vampire doing in a holy place like this?"

_ 'Oh crap. The man is shoving crosses at me._' "Uh nothing! What's a vampire!?" The last thing Angel needed was to knock out another priest.

"I am not a naïve fool, your hand burns at the power of God vampire." Everett said and the next thing Spike grabbed and hurled him out of the confessional back into the sanctuary. The priest picked up a canteen of holy water and threw it at Spike, the water burned him and by instinct turned on his vamp face.

"Bugger that hurt!" Spike cried out. "Were not even bad vampires!"

"Liar, there is no such thing as a good vampire!" And Everett brought his forearm down on Spike. The vampire fell down facedown on the floor hard with a loud smack.

Angel popped up behind Everett. "Yeah but we got souls…" But before Angel could finish his sentence Everett punched him, really hard, like actually hard and he went flying across the sanctuary. Spike leaped at Everett but the priest was quick and backhanded him into the wall.

"Oh now I'm really angry! You don't want to see me angry!" Spike roared.

Again the blonde vampire charged at the priest but gets caught in Everett's headlock and is dumped into a nearby fountain of holy water. Spike screamed as the water burned his skin. Everett turned to see Angel up and facing him, ready to tear him limb to limb.

"Do you really want to end it like this?"  
  
"At least I'll die fighting for God!" Everett shouted as he tackled Angel into the stands. While being human, the priest was unusually strong, too strong for a normal human actually but Angel was able to throw him off. Everett recovered quickly and punched Angel hard into the wall and rushed at him but the vampire double-kicked him back, just barely.

With his right forearm Angel brought it up in a blow that snapped Everett's head back and threw him high into the other wall with a loud crack and a thud. Everett fell down to the floor like a limpness body but to Angel's amazement he got back up and charged again.

_ 'What's this guy made of?'_ Angel thought but then a quick glow of red on Everett's index finger caught his attention. Angel twisted away from another of the priest's punch and grabbed a hold of him.

"Let's see what you're made of after I take this off!" Angel said as he reached for the ring but noticed that Everett made no attempts to stop him. He continued anyways and removed the ring off of the priest and shoved him away to the ground. Everett looked back and laughed.

"The ring heeds only to those of the Champions of the Light! No creature of darkness could harness its power!"

Angel smirked. "Well then, let's try it out." He placed the emerald ring on his index finger and Everett continued to laugh but then stopped when he realized that nothing happened to Angel.

"Impossible!" Everett cried out.

"News flash." Angel held his hands out sideways. "I'm a vampire with the soul, I'm a Champion too. That's what I've been trying to tell you! Saved the world a couple of times."

"Me too." Spike said with his hand up as he lay down on the floor.

Everett examined Angel a bit closer. "I have heard rumors about vampires with souls but I never actually believed it."  
  
"Well now you should." Angel held up the ring and observed it. The band was silver with a small red crystal imbedded into it along with inscriptions around it. "So what does this ring do? Make you super strong?"  
  
"You are half-wrong vampire." Everett said as he shook his head. "This ring was forged long ago for a champion of the light. From generation to generation it was passed down by us ancient priests to each new champion that arises. The ring holds the spirits of past champions. It endows any user who is not evil with every champion's skills, experience, and power. Only a true champion however can bring out its true potential."

"Really?" Angel said as he continued to study the ring. Spike came up to him.

"You take it mate, had enough with wearing jewelry to fight evil."

"I'll be taking this then father." Angel said. "Unless you still do not believe me."  
  
"Forgive me my son." Everett replied with his head bowed. "My job is to hand the ring to a worthy champion as my father before me and his father before him." He looked up at Angel. "God brought you here to this place Angel, the ring belongs to you, keep it. Use it well."

"Thank you father." Angel took a look around the place. "Sorry if we made such a mess."

Everett shook his head. "Please, the fault is mine; I should have listened to you in the first place."  
  
The two vampires headed for the door.

_ Lorne took another sip of his drink. "Well wasn't that fun kids? There's always trouble wherever those two go. Now let us go back and see what our demons are doing."_


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**Spike's Apartment**

In Spike's apartment Illyria sits on the couch and plays on the gamecube. When she had returned, she had found the game hidden next to the picture box for she had grew bored of Crash Bandicoot.

The game seemed interesting enough. With Fred's memories and skills, Illyria was able to decipher what to do in this game. Unlike the previous game which required the user to collect crystals and fruits for some reason, this game required battling through the use of various creatures of all sorts against many opponents. You were to select a team of 3 creatures with different types of powers and use them strategically against the enemy.

However one thing bothered her about the game. _'Who in their mind would create a game where these powerful creatures are to be contained in such small spaces and only be summoned to fight? Is there no end to these humans in their attempt to trap such glorious things in small spaces including themselves!?_

The cry of one of her creatures returned her back to reality as Illyria observed her creature proceeding with an attack she selected, 'Thunderbolt.' The creature she had selected was rather small, perhaps insignificant, yet very powerful for it created massive lightening attacks.

Why she had chosen such a creature when there were more massive and magnificent creatures such as the large fire-breathing winged dragon she did not know; something inside her adored the little yellow vermin which prompted her to choose it and it disgusted her.

The creature launched a gigantic thunderbolt towards the opponent's monster which was some sort of winged creature. The lightening shocked the creature as it shuddered left and right and fell down for its red HP, which was on the picture box on the top right-hand corner, disappeared. Illyria did not understand why she decided to waste her time with such a useless game but the sight and cry of her little vermin kept her going for unknown reasons.

"Illyria."

Illyria turned to see Gabriel at the door, wounded with blood all over his stomach. Immediately she dropped the controller and went to him and held him up.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Lucifer…" Gabriel replied weakly.

Illyria observed the wound, it was not deep but it went through his armor. She helped Gabriel through the living room as she closed the door behind him.

"This wound is not mortal but we should try to heal it." Then Illyria remembered something, the items that Wesley brought here previously to help heal her wounds were still in the bedroom. "I will go and prepare a remedy to help you heal."

Gabriel looked at her. "Yes…" He looked past the living room and noticed a room which he concluded from Terrance's memories as a washroom. "I will go and cleanse my wound as much as possible."

Illyria nodded and brought him into the washroom and Gabriel motioned her to leave and she went away to prepare the remedy. Gabriel walked into the shower and turned on the knob and held his head back as cold water rushed down on his head. The water sang to him a song of sorrow as they slid down his body through his wound. He cocked his head a bit and took another look at his wound as the blood was being washed away with the water.

_ My lord you are hurt._

_ Please let us heal you as best as we can._

Perhaps it was instinct but for some reason Gabriel shifted his shape to Terrance and reached for another knob to increase the heat of the water. '_Now that is more like it. Nothing like a good hot shower.'_

In the bedroom, Illyria did her best with the equipment at hand as she tried to recreate the medicine and bandage that Wesley used to help her heal. With Fred's skills, it was easier to pull through.

_ You want to be with Fred._

_ Yes, yes, that's where I'd be if I could._

_ I could assume her shape, make her come alive again this once for you. But you would never ask me to._

_ 'Why would I ask you to assume her shape Fred?'_

Illyria, shocked, turned around to find the voice. "Who?"

_ 'You are what I wish to be with Fred.'_

Again, Illyria took another look around and then shook her head but when she looked at the mirror she was again Fred. Illyria observed herself in the mirror as Fred. _Wesley…I will find you. No matter what it takes._

Gabriel was laid down on the bed as Illyria placed the bandage over his wound. After she had applied it on Gabriel placed some pressure on it to make it stick and then sat up straight on the bed. Illyria wiped her hands dry.

"Is it better?" Illyria asked.

Gabriel felt around the bandaged wound. "Yes, it is better." He stared at Illyria. "I remember this though; Wesley made this for Terrance when he was wounded at the Academy."

"Yes." Illyria said as she sat on the bed next to Gabriel. "He did the same for me too."

Gabriel tilted his head to the side. "You miss him do you not?"

"Yes."  
  
"I see." Gabriel said as he took Illyria's hands into his. "We will find a way my liege. While I do not know him this shell seems to be willing to help him in anyway he can."

"Thank you." Illyria replied in a quiet voice.

_ "Quite a faithful friend Wesley has there huh?" Lorne remarked. "Interested to see where this is going between our two demon friends?" Some agreements are heard throughout the audience. "Well you'll have to wait because our champions come back." Now some people start to boo in the crowd._

Spike and Angel walked into the apartment. Spike took notice of the television and turned it off. He picked up one of the controllers and took a look inside the gamecube.

"Bugger, looks like they found it." Spike said quietly to himself but Angel ignored it.

"Illyria?" Angel said as he looked around the place. "Gabriel?"

Illyria and Gabriel walked out of the bedroom into the living room. Gabriel still had his hand over his wound though.

"What happened?" Angel asked as he moved a bit closer to see what had happened to Gabriel.

"Lucifer." Gabriel replied. "But that is not important. Have you accomplished your mission?"  
  
Angel took over the ring and held it out in front of the whole gang. "Yup. A ring for a champion." He placed the ring back on his finger. "What about you guys?"

"Illyria." Gabriel nodded to Illyria as she picked up the sword from the table.

"We picked up this enchanted sword which can slay a demon easily." Illyria said as she removed the sword from its sheath and handed it over to Spike. "You take it Spike. I have no need for weapons."

Spike examined the weapon and then asked. "Why not? You can't go in there unarmed."

"I have Gabriel at my side." Illyria replied.

"Oh!" Spike said shocked. "I see…"

Gabriel turned to Angel. "So what now Angel? Should we start?"  
  
Angel shook his head. "No. You're wounded and its been a long night, we should rest." He headed towards the kitchen. "It's best if we fight in our prime form."

Gabriel nodded his head. "As you wish."

* * *

Note: Well it's almost done for ACT I. As said before, when I have time I'll come back to these guys and do some editing. Please feel free to comment or add suggestions. Thanks.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

_ Lorne takes a look at his watch, it was getting really late now. "Now the finale boys and girls."_

**Los Angeles******

Lucifer walked into the factory that he had settled in previously and looked around. The factory had been abandoned for some time so it was very bare, plenty of space to breathe in compared to those little holes the vermin build and live in. Lucifer raised his hand and a fiery-red fireball began to form in his palm and within seconds, he unleashed it the walls; the entire building shuddered and collapsed at the weight of the impact and Lucifer laughed.

While the human shell prevented him, as well as the other Old Ones from reaching their true potential, there were still ways around it. Apparently the humans, some of them anyways, had developed the ability to utilize the Art of Dark Magic which was long thought impossible to be harnessed by such inferior mortals. The human shell used Dark Magic to combat a powerful demon sorcerer and despite his best efforts failed to even scratch him aside from throwing him around. '_Foolish human, dark magic are for demons.'_

Though he had learned to make use of the magic attack the shell had learned and mastered it to the point where it could level an entire mountain itself thanks to his own powers. In the old days the Old Ones had very little use for magic all the time as most of the battles were fought with countless minions and powerful weapons; if necessary though they would use mystical attacks.

After the quick skirmish on top of the city, Lucifer knew that Gabriel would not be much of a problem to dispose with though he never did had much trouble in the past. It was Illyria whom he was concerned of. His sources had noted that most of her powers had been drained due to her ignorance of her shell's limits and her strength was reduced to that of a slayer, perhaps above the slayer. _'Slayers…if it wasn't for them this world would probably still belong to us.' _

It seemed that after the fall of Gabriel and Illyria, a band of Magi humans escaped from Lucifer and fled to an isolated island. There they used the magic Gabriel had taught them to fuse a demon spirit into a mere human female and thus, the First Slayer. The First Slayer, as well as her descendents, and many other champions led the humans to victory over the remaining Old Ones who were too busy fighting each other.

Lucifer was many of the Old Ones who fell to the scythe of the Slayer for he was too careless and drove his Elemental Gods into hiding across the Earth, where they waited for a chance to bring him back to this world. The Elementals reverted and rejoined their own elements and hid until the Guardian of the Deeper Well would falter.

The shell however seems to be a descendent of those Magi humans that were now know as the 'Watchers' who kept an eye on the Slayers. According to the shell's memories though, the Watchers had been destroyed by some great evil as ancient as he was. He would search high and low across the Earth to skew every last Watcher and Slayer he could find until they have been driven extinct. However, something kept him from that agenda for another obstruction had to be taken care of.

_ Would you have loved me?_

_ I have loved you, ever since I have known you._

_ …I will never leave you!_

_ …I swear on my life we will find a way to stop this!_

No matter how hard Lucifer tried, the memories of the shell could not be fully suppressed and at times they have surfaced and brought pain to his mind. It did not hurt him physically but he despised such powerful emotions, which he did not have. What was worse out of them all was the next set of memories which related to one of his most hatred rivals.

_ Watch over her for me._

_You're a very inspirational person have I not told you that?_

_This will help you heal._

_Is it better?_

_I…I love you._

While most of the time the shell had hurled insults towards Illyria and scorned her, the shell actually held a piece of desire for Illyria. The closest thing Lucifer could relate the desire to would be 'love,' but not the worship kind, a more complicated feeling related to humans.

Its last moments with Illyria brought some of that love for her to the surface and it knew about the lie but was able to settle with it because it realized its love for her. This disgusted Lucifer as the memory of its last moments recycled again, again, and again in his mind. The only way to stop it would be to forget it but the thoughts of Illyria alive kept it going; he would have to rid himself of Illyria to do it.

"Scourge!" Lucifer cried out. Scourge walked up towards him and shook off some of the debris that fell on him and stood ready.

"Tell me." Lucifer said but paused for a minute. "How well does your shell know Illyria's shell?"

Scourge stared at Lucifer with his shell's eyes. "For some time ever since our shells met hers. He was the first to obtain her but eventually lost her." He chuckled. "It is not difficult for me to hold back such memories. They are full of…sorrow."  
  
"But it is difficult for me." Lucifer replied. "This shell had been fighting for her for years; his emotions are incredibly strong and hard to deal with." He gasped for a bit. "And some inappropriate."

Scourge raised an eyebrow. "Inappropriate? How so?"

"Their mouths touched numerous times." Lucifer placed his right hand on his lip and felt it. "Humans apparently enjoy touching each other physically. Disgusting. I can almost feel it."

"I do not believe there is much we can do about it." Scourge said.

"Perhaps." Lucifer replied as he looked up at the sky. "We have adapted well to this world with our limited powers." He turned to see the red sun arise on the horizon. "It is time, summon the Elements, a battle is about to begin."


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

* * *

**Spike's Apartment**

Angel walked into the living room with a cup of blood in his hand and saw that Spike was still on the couch with his video games.

"Is that the only thing you ever do around here Spike?" Angel asked as he placed his cup down on the table. "Play video games? A little childish wouldn't you think?"

"Better than just sulking around mate. At least I get to work out my fingers." Spike replied and wiggled his right hand at Angel. "So how are our two love birds?"

Angel turned to the bedroom which had the door closed. "Illyria and Gabriel are still in there, I think he's still resting. The wound looked pretty bad." He picked up a chair and sat down on it. "He told me everything…" Spike looked up at Angel. "Another Old One has taken over Wesley."

"Bloody bastards." Spike said. "As if it wasn't bad enough to lose Charlie boy to them."

"Yeah…" Angel replied quietly. "And the souls' gone too so."

"Never a fair world is it?"

"Never is."

The two vampires turned as Illyria entered the room. "He is resting but his wound has healed." She said. "I wish to know whether or not you have a plan Angel."

Angel straightened himself on his chair. "Not much really…" He chuckled and removed the ring from his finger and examined it in the light. "We find them and destroy them." Angel got up from the chair and picked up the sword. "It's been quiet for some time now."

"A little too quiet." Spike interrupted.

"But there must be a reason why they chose our friends as our shells." Angel replied as he turned back to Illyria and then Spike. "Regardless of it, we aren't just going to let them waltz around in our friends' bodies."

"What happens if they choose to fight with us?" Spike asked again but this time he turned to Illyria. "Blue here was our enemy but now she's on our side right mate?"

Illyria's face turned angry with her icicle eyes focused on Spike. "They will not!" She said. "I will tear them limb from limb and mutilate their faces and spit at their corpse!" Illyria continued to sneer at Spike.

"Uh okay." The blonde vampire just picked up the controller and continued to play on the Gamecube. "Even if that person was someone you cared about deeply?"

Spike's words made Illyria think for a moment, did she really cared about Wesley and loved him? "Yes…" Illyria said weakly, it was preferable to her not to reveal her emotions to anyone else at this time. It seemed Spike was a little taken back by her words but decided not to continue any further torment and returned to his game.

With a sigh Angel tapped on Illyria's shoulder and she turned to face him and he spoke quietly. "I need you here Illyria, you said you'll join us and help us in this fight." He came a bit closer. "I know how you feel…"

Illyria snapped back quickly. "Do you half-breed!?" She took a step back from Angel and continued. "Wesley was the only one I could trust and rely on. He was my guide in this world despite the fact that I took away his only love." She pointed at Angel. "And what did you do? You did whatever you could to control and destroy me! It is because of you that Wesley has ended up like this! He was my…"

"Lover?" Spike interrupted which caught both Illyria's and Angel's attention. "Pet? Friend? Your priest? Dad?"

Again, Illyria did not wished to reveal more of her human emotions and remained silent. Angel stepped forward.

"He knew the risks." Angel crossed his arms. "Wesley was one of my best friends as well as the person I could rely when things got bad even though he betrayed me and stole my son." This captured Spike's attention and he dropped the controller with a dumbfounded look but did not say anything. "He saved my life and I'll never forget that or him."

Illyria stared at the vampire for a bit and then turned around and left to check on Gabriel but she was indeed hurt.

_"Tensions have always been high between our fearless leader and blue queen." Lorne said. _

_A voice in the audience responded. "Why is that?"_

_"Why?" Lorne replied. "Mainly because of how those two met, she was a slave trapped in a hell dimension with all hope lost and he was her knight in shining armor that came and saved her." He took a sip of his drink. "If you ask me, they had a daughter and father relationship. When things got bad with her he was willing to do what it takes to save her. She was a sweet crumpet. When __Illyria__ came though…it not only struck Wesley's heart hard but Angel's as well as the rest of us." _

_"What about Wesley? Didn't he betray Angel by kidnapping his son?" Another member in the audience asked. "How could Angel still trust him?"_

_"Well the thing with Wesley was that he was a man who tried whatever he could to do to contribute to the good fight." Lorne replied. "With Connor's case he thought he was doing what was best for everyone else." He shifted a bit on his stool. "I don't think I ever understood why he did it but after some Sherlock's thinking it wasn't just the false prophecy that led him to do this but what had happened early." Lorne stood up and walked around a bit on the stage. "You ever know what's it like to be lonely? To have the whole world shut out from you? No matter what you do you feel like the oddball?" _

Illyria entered the bedroom and sees Gabriel on the bed with his gaze stuck on the ceiling. She quietly walks up to the bed and sits on the side and Gabriel took notice of her but returned his stare back at the ceiling.

_"Fred was always the heart of Wesley's desire." Lorne said. "Much like what happened to Angel when Groo came back to Cordelia was what happened to Wesley. He found himself at a loss. At least with Angel's case he had a son to tend to, Wesley had nothing but his books." He chuckled a bit. "I mean who wants to have books as companions?"_

_"What about you?" Someone asked. "Didn't you feel lonely at all?"_

_Lorne shook his head. "Nah, I'm an all-around loveable guy and I had a lot of things that kept me busy during those times. But back to our story."_

As the door closed Spike finally spoke out.

"You have son!? That's impossible!"

"A lot of impossible things have happened in the past." Angel replied.

"But with whom? I don't recall seeing Buffy pregnant!"

"This isn't up for discussion Spike!" Angel said sharply. "Just drop it."

"Suit yourself mate." Spike replied as he returned to his game. "Wow. Who would've thought of it?" He spoke up again. "As long as it wasn't with Buffy."

Angel simply ignored him and went to the kitchen to grab a drink.

In the bedroom, Gabriel spoke. "You had a disagreement with the vampire Angel?"

Illyria remained seated on the bed next to Gabriel's side but did not turn her eyes to him. "Yes…I am…" She staggered a bit and turned to Gabriel. "Unsure of what to do. Angel wishes to annihilate our current enemies regardless of the loss. Sometimes I think he does not care about the soldiers who die for him in battle."

Gabriel cocked his head with an interested look. "Strange." He said which caught Illyria's full attention. "I do not remember you having this kind of emotion or care for things you would have considered in the old days as insignificant."

Illyria would have ripped Gabriel's throat for his words but she held herself back. "A lot has happened to me ever since I came into this world. I am still at a loss with my place in this world and my purpose."

"Our place?" Gabriel asked as he shifted himself up into a sitting position on the bed. "Our place is back in the Deeper Well, this world belongs to the mortals, not us. These are not the same humans we knew back then, if we tried to wrestle this world from them they will strike back hard."

"So I was told. Then is our purpose to become guardians of this world?"

"I think we have already found our destiny."

* * *

NOTE: I was hoping to finish this story but then so many tragic things happened to me this year and I've lost the fire for it as well as my schoolwork is killing me and taking up tons of my time so I dunno whether I'll finish it or not. I was planning three Acts for this but if I do end up finishing it I might just keep it one ACT and simplify it. Sorry to those who were hoping for more but I'm just so busy.


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